Persona: Ocean Of Memories
by Nouva17
Summary: Set four years after the event of P4, a new threat falls upon the town of Umizuo. Increasing rates of missing persons and complete amnesia, it all started when the residents received a new program called the Nostalgia Line.
1. Chapter 1: Kimi Amaya

My eyes opened the moment I began hearing a creepy yet relaxing song.

"Where am I?' were the first words I spoke upon seeing my surroundings.

I was supposed to be sitting down in the uncomfortable passenger seat of my guardian's van but instead of seeing the dirty insides of that van, I saw an amazing amount of blue velvet. Every table, curtains, chair, and even the carpet were all different shades of blue velvet. I was sitting at one of the dining tables in the middle of the vast room. The room was only illuminated by the candles set up on each table and the eerie lights coming in through the porthole windows.

It was the swaying motions of the room that told me I was on a ship of some kind.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room…"

I jumped at the sound of a man's voice, only then noticing the two figures sitting at the table with me.

The first figure is what I focused on. The figure was an impish old man wearing a black suit staring at me with an intense look in his wide eyes. There were several thing about the old man that forced my attention to him instead of the other person in the room. For one, his nose was so long that my eyes couldn't help but stare at it. Another was that intense look in his eyes, as if my presence in the room was a marvel to see.

Prying my attention away from the creepy man, I focused on the person sitting at his side. It was little girl that looked a few years younger than me. The girl wore a dress with a lighter shade of blue than the rest of the room but her incredibly long silver hair hid most of her body. She had an incredibly cute face and beautiful yellow eyes that was staring at me with almost the same intensity as the old man. She smiled at me while resting her chin upon her hands.

"Yet again, an individual with a most interesting destiny has appeared in the Velvet Room," the old man chuckled. His voice had a mysterious gentleman-like quality to it. He chuckled again and continued. "My name is Igor… it is a delight to meet you, young lady."

"A delight," the little girl repeated.

I nodded, not knowing what else to do in the situation.

"This room is a place that exists in between dream and reality, mind and matter," Igor told me. "Only those who are bound to a 'Contract' may be allowed inside the Velvet Room. Your presence in this room may be because you are in need of my services…"

"What's your name?" the little girl interrupted. "My name's Irene!"

Igor sighed. "Irene, there is a process-"

"It's alright," I managed to say. "You gave me your names first; it's only natural that I give you mine."

I took a deep breath before telling them my name.

"My name's Kimi Amaya," I told them.

Igor and Irene chuckled upon hearing my name.

"Are you sure that's your name?" Irene chuckled.

"Huh?" I did not expect that kind of question, especially not from such a little girl.

"What Irene is saying is that even if you say that is your name…" Igor chuckled yet again. "Are you sure that there isn't another 'Kimi Amaya' inside you?" Or are you the only 'Kimi Amaya'? Could there not be another 'Kimi Amaya' inside of you? A you capable of incredible acts of kindness or a you capable of incredible cruelty?"

Please stop asking those philosophical questions. Philosophy is not one of my strong suits. "I'm sorry but what you're saying is a bit too philosophical for me," I told him.

"Igor is trying to tell you that the 'current' you is only a mask!" Irene shouted sounding sort of annoyed. "People go through life wearing all kinds of Masks in order to deal with Reality! The 'current' you is the Mask that you wear that others see and nobody who wears masks has only one mask, they have a whole collection of them!"

Oh, I get what the creepy old man was trying to say now.

"A person wears 'Masks' in order to fit into society," Igor continued. "But I ask you, what are these Masks created from?"

Again with the philosophical questions? What is with this guy and philosophy?

"It's pointless to ask her now, Igor," Irene sighed. "She still hasn't 'awakened' to her abilities yet."

"This is how we treat our visitors, Irene," Igor told the little girl. "Your sisters and brother understood what being my assistant meant, I only hope you grow into the position."

I opened my mouth to speak but stopped the moment I heard a loud bell ring from outside the walls. Irene pouted as if she was disappointed by something. Igor continued to chuckle as a bright light enveloped the room.

"Our time is growing short, my dear. It seems that you are nearing your destination in the Real World," Igor told me. "You will be summoned back to this room soon but until then, my dear, I wish that you think about my question. What are the masks that humanity wear created from?"

My last sight before the light enveloped everything was that of Igor's grin and a glowing blue butterfly fluttering above him.

"I hope you have the answer the next time you appear in the Velvet Room, Kimi Amaya…"

* * *

><p>My eyes open once again, this time to the sight of the glistening ocean and the passing pavement of the road outside. It took a moment for my eyes to focus to the sun's light.<p>

"Finally awake, Kimi-chan? Good since we're close to the place where we'll be living for the next year," my guardian Fuyu Sasaki said from the driver seat.

Fuyu Sasaki, a sort-of famous artist and my guardian since a month ago. She was a woman who didn't care how other people saw her and therefore wore clothes she considered comfortable, a simple paint-stained t-shirt and baggy jeans, and didn't wear make-up of any kind. Even her fading blue van reflected that part of her personality. Fast-food bags and empty bento boxes littered the floor of the vehicle and the seats smelled oily, kind of like the paint she uses. If it weren't for that part of her personality and the fact she has horrible eyes in need of the strongest glasses, I might've envied Sasaki because of her killer body. She had such a skinny yet curvy body that most models could only get with years of diets and exercise. If she just grew her hair out instead of keeping it short and wore a little make-up, she would be drop-dead gorgeous.

I ignored the desire to stare at my guardian's figure with envy and proceeded to stretch my whole body. It felt so good to feel my muscles stretch after what seemed to be an eight-hour sleep since Sasaki and I left Kyoto.

Sasaki poked her thick glasses a tiny bit upwards as the road turned.

"There's our lovely new home, Kimi-chan," Sasaki told me with a smile.

I didn't know what the house would look like since Sasaki wanted it to be a surprise.

And when I saw the house, I understood why she wanted it to be a surprise.

It was absolutely beautiful! The two-story house had a modern style with one side being made entirely out of glass to let sunlight in. The house was built into the side of the mountain, amongst the many trees, making it stand out but that gave it a kind of shine to it. My mouth wouldn't close as I kept staring at the house that stood out in the middle of the many trees. Sasaki chuckled as she drove the van to the paved path up to the house.

"This place cost quite a lot but worth every yen to see that look on your face," Sasaki chuckled. "And I guess the scenery is an added plus too…"

The scenery going up that paved path was certainly beautiful too. There were only trees and various types of plants outside that went on for what seemed to be forever. I watched as the trees past through the window and out of sight…

Until I saw the figure of a human lying against one of the trees.

"Stop the car!" I yelled out of reflex.

I shouldn't have yelled because Sasaki stomped on the brakes in an instant, causing my body to launch forward. My cute little forehead banged against the dashboard as the van came to a complete stop.

Ignoring the throbbing pain from my forehead, I flung the van's door open and ran out to the human figure in the distance.

"What's wrong, Kimi?" Sasaki yelled getting out of her van and running after me.

My body was moving out of reflex towards the person. It ignored the yells of my guardian and didn't bother to stop when I ran through bushes and the thorns had cut through my leg's skin.

I reached the person in less than thirty seconds. The person was a man in his early thirties, wearing a dirtied black suit that looked like it used to be clean. The man had cuts all over his body and his left arm hung limp against the ground while his other hand was holding a bleeding wound on his chest. The man turned his head towards me, leaves falling out of his messy head of brown hair. Our eyes met but something felt wrong about his eyes. They didn't look like the eyes of an injured man.

They looked like the eyes of a man trying to remember something important.

"Santou-san!" Sasaki screamed seeing the injured man.

I turned to my guardian. "You know him?" I asked.

Sasaki took out her cell phone. "He's the one who sold me this house," she answered while pressing the number to call an ambulance. "But he already gave me the keys to the house. He should be in Kyoto right now!"

"My head… hurts," Santou whispered.

"Hang on, Santou-san, I'm calling an ambulance," Sasaki told the man.

"Why are you calling me Santou? Is that my name?" he asked.

What? He doesn't know his own name?

"Who are you people?" Santo continued. "What am I doing here? Why can't I remember anything? And why does my head hurt so much?"

Santou continued to ask questions while looking like he was trying to remember who he was.

The man must've hit his head somehow but there were still some questions I was curious about. Sasaki thought the man that sold her the house should have been in Kyoto and yet here he was, on the property of the person he sold the house to. He was injured and yet upon looking up at the house in the distance above us, I saw that the railing was still intact. In order to get these kinds of injuries, Santou must've fell from the house and rolled down the hill, banging into anything in the way, but I couldn't see any sign that the railing broke from where I stood. I might need to take a closer look but I could safely say that this man did not fall by accident.

The only explanation would be that someone pushed him off.

But the man couldn't remember who he was.

So what were the chances he'll remember that he was pushed?

* * *

><p>"I'm so sorry that this had to happen before you even got to the house, Kimi," Sasaki said while we were carrying our luggage into the rooms. "At least we know Santou-san is going to be okay. None of his injuries were life-threatening."<p>

It wasn't that lifting to know that the man was going to live. I was much more occupied with the question 'why did someone push Santou?' Was the culprit trying to kill him? What was happening that the culprit felt the need to kill him? And why was the man who was supposed to be in Kyoto at the house? Some of my questions could have been answered by the man Santou himself, had he not lost his memories.

If I had not found Santou, I would have been amazed by the spacious and modern look of the house's insides but since I did find him, my attention was more focused on the questions floating around in my throbbing head.

"I had such a great day planned for our first day," Sasaki told me sounding disappointed. She sighed while she threw her luggage on the polished wooden floor. "Maybe I can still salvage it? She asked herself.

"We can still do what you planned," I told my guardian while watching her sit on one of the unpacked boxes that the movers brought into the house days ago.

What I said surprised her. "But after seeing such a scene, especially since it was only a month since…"

Sasaki didn't say it but I knew she meant the incident that first got me placed into the care of my parent's best friend. It was a subject that she still didn't feel comfortable talking about and knew that I also wouldn't like to talk about.

I put a smile on, trying to cheer up both her and myself. "I'm not that bothered, Aunt Sasaki," I told her. "Let's do what you planned today and forget what happened for now."

We just witnessed a man being carried away by the ambulance but I didn't want that to ruin the first day in the new home. Whatever Sasaki had planned was special to her and I wanted her to be happy today.

Sasaki chuckled. "You know, ever since you moved in with me, I wondered which one of us was the adult and the child," she said. Sasaki jumped to her feet and pulled out the keys to her van. "Okay, Kimi-chan, let's go into town! We'll go to the movies and get ice cream and do all kinds of things together!"

"What about the boxes?" I asked looking at the still unpacked boxes all over the house.

"They'll still be here when we get back!" Sasaki answered. "We can unpack them later!"

Sasaki continued to laugh as she hurried out of the house and back into her dirty van.

"The town is only a ten minute drive from here so we can have all kinds of fun until night…" Sasaki continued to speak while she walked out the door and down the stairs to her van.

I hurried to follow but something caught my eye when I stepped outside the door. Turning my head in the direction of what caught my eye, I saw the most puzzling sight I have ever seen.

A blue butterfly was fluttering just above me. Upon seeing the glowing butterfly, the whole world felt like it had just stopped. That blue butterfly was the only moving being in my sight. Time itself stopped but the butterfly continued to flutter above me. While the butterfly flew through the stopped world, a regal voice spoke to me as if someone were standing right in front of me.

"Forgive me for I cannot bring you into my realm while you are in this place," the voice said.

I don't know why but hearing the voice calmed my heart and mind. I could think clearly while hearing this invisible man's regal voice.

"I am Philemon, dear Kimi Amaya," the voice said. His voice rose in intensity as he continued. "I am here to tell you of the dangerous fate that will befall you and anyone close to you. A powerful being has his eyes set on the town and the surrounding areas. If left alone, this town will certainly fall and begin a chain of chaos. Everyone will perish if this being is not stopped…"

The voice calling itself Philemon paused and in front of me, I saw the silhouette of the man speaking. It was only a shadow but I could tell he looked like a man of higher class. A white and gold butterfly mask covered the face of the shadow and was the only thing about him that was solid. I saw the faint image of a smile underneath the butterfly mask.

"But remember that you are my servant," Philemon said his voice full of kindness. "Not once has one of my servants disappointed me over these years. Though the trials might be difficult and you might be in the depths of despair, just remember that you have the power of the Wild Card."

"You have the power to overcome the trials placed upon you!" Philemon yelled with pride. "Humans have the power to defy fate and carve their own paths! You have not yet awakened to the power given to you but you will soon awaken! This is my gift to you, Kimi Amaya, the gift to call upon the infinite power of Humanity!"

The shadow of Philemon disappeared with a flash of light and the world began to move again.

"I shall restore your memories of the Velvet Room, Kimi Amaya," Philemon's fading voice told me. "But remember that all I can do for you is to make sure you do not forget who you are. The rest all falls on you, my dear servant…"

I no longer felt Philemon's presence and soon after he left, I began remembering the Velvet Room and the ones occupying it. I remembered the creepy old man with the incredibly long nose Igor and his immature new assistant Irene. I remembered the philosophy questions Igor told me and Irene trying to explain them to me. I remembered the dining room I was in and that it was located inside a large ship currently at sea. The last thing I remembered was the question Igor asked me when I left the Velvet Room.

_"What are the masks that humanity wears created from?"_

He expected me to find the answer the next time I visit him.

"What are you doing, Kimi-chan? Hurry up and get into the van!" Sasaki yelled from within her van.

Such an eventful day...

I just hope it doesn't get any more confusing.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Okay, this here is the introductory chapter of Persona: Ocean of Memories. This chapter is meant to introduce the protagonist of this story, Kimi Amaya and her encounters with Philemon and his servant Igor while also finding the beginning of the mystery.<strong>

**Action will start next chapter and so will the first appearance of a Persona series character.**

**Please tell me your thoughts and if you have any criticism. Hope you'll like this story.**


	2. Chapter 2: Ocean Of The Soul

The town of Umizuo was only a ten minute drive from our home and while the fishing docks take up a considerable part of the area, most of the town was small businesses with a large mall built to the side of the town. The whole town had a bright look to it thanks to the sun and the glistening ocean. As soon as Sasaki and I left the van to walk around the shopping district, a powerful ocean scent filled our noses. Most residents of the town turned their attention to us when they noticed Sasaki and I walking down the roads, my guardian trying to decide which place we should go to first. People must've thought that I looked more like the adult between us since Sasaki had a sort of childish expression on her face as we browsed through the small businesses.

What Philemon said, however, still bothered me.

Both he and Igor had said that a dangerous fate was going to fall upon me. That was all they said about the subject. Nothing else they said gave me any answers or even anything to help me. Igor went on about his philosophy while Irene tried to explain them. Philemon had called her his servant but I don't ever remember signing any form that makes me his servant. Remembering those three only gave me a migraine with all the questions that came with them. Thinking about what happened to the realtor Santou only made my situation even more confusing.

It took most of my willpower to try and bury the questions while I walked with my guardian.

"Don't these stores look just great?" Sasaki asked.

"Maybe instead of looking at them, we should actually buy something," I answered.

"We should get ice cream first, ice cream is always good," Sasaki responded. She looked around for a store that sold ice cream and upon finding an ice cream parlor; she disappeared inside while I waited for her outside on the street.

Standing outside the ice cream parlor while Sasaki ordered allowed me to think about the questions.

But the moment I tried to find an answer to Igor's question about the masks humanity wears, my cellphone vibrated in my jean's pocket. My cellphone vibrating at that moment was strange since it was a new phone with a new number. I haven't told any of my friends in Kyoto my new number and yet when I flipped my phone open; it said I had a new text message. Nobody but my guardian Sasaki knew the number to my phone and any billing information would go to her instead of me.

So how did someone text me?

More questions to an already confusing day.

I sighed as I began reading the text message.

"CONGRATULATIONS! You are one of the chosen few allowed to access our new product!" the text message seemed to yell at me. It sounded like spam but I continued to read the message.

"Have you ever wished that you could relive the best memories of your life? Does any day go past where you do not wish for better times? Well, thanks to our brilliant discovery of the Nostalgia Line program, you can now relive the happiest memories of your life! The program is still in the development stages but thanks to permission from various groups, we are allowed to give the prototype to over a hundred individuals in the given area of Umizuo. Call the number listed below to download your copy."

"Have a great time reliving your happiest memories and remember to tell others your thoughts about our product!" the message ended before listing the number to activate the prototype.

"Sounds like a hoax," I whispered.

"Wouldn't hurt to try it," a man's voice from my side.

I jumped at the sound of the man's sudden appearance. Standing next to me was a man in his early twenties, him having just left the ice cream parlor with a vanilla ice cream cone in hand. The man wore a white leather jacket with an orange v-shirt underneath and dark green slacks. His other hand scratched his slightly unkempt brown hair while he glanced down at the message on my phone.

"It doesn't sound like a bad idea to at least try it," the man said. "It's not asking for any money and you got it for free, might as well try it out."

"I'm sorry but do I know you?" I asked. I didn't even bother to hide my irritation in my voice.

The man, however, didn't seem to notice my tone. He only chuckled at my question. "I'm new to this town so I guess you wouldn't know me," he answered.

"I'm just moved here today," I told him raising my voice a bit. "The only person in this whole town that I know is my guardian."

"So we're in the same boat," the man said smiling at me. This guy must smile a lot since his smile was one of the most natural ones I saw. He threw the ice cream cone into his mouth and swallowed it after chewing it for a few seconds. Then he held his hand out to me. "The name's Yosuke Hanamura, second coolest man of Yasoinaba."

"Second coolest? Who's number one?" I asked shaking his hand.

"That spot is held by my best friend," Yosuke answered still smiling.

Yosuke tried to continue speaking but stopped while placing his hands on his temples. "Brain freeze…" he said through gritted teeth.

Wow, is this guy an idiot? "I'm Kimi Amaya," I told him since it was good manners to give my name when someone else told me theirs. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered to tell him.

Yosuke still held his head as he responded. "Nice to meet you, Amaya-san," he said giving me another smile.

"Kimi-chan, who's this young man?" Sasaki said coming out of the parlor with a strawberry ice cream cone for me and a large banana split with many toppings for herself.

I took my cone from her before answering. "He's Yosuke Hanamura," I answered. "He's new to town, just like us."

"Fuyu Sasaki," my guardian giving Yosuke a small bow. "So what brings you to this beautiful town? Business or personal matters?"

"A little of both but for now it's a secret, Sasaki-san," Yosuke answered.

"Well I'm here for both reasons too," Sasaki chuckled. "Umizuo is considered one of the most beautiful towns in all of Japan so it'll be a great inspiration for my paintings."

"So you're an artist?" Yosuke said acting surprised.

"She's one of the most famous artists in all of Japan," I lied. It was a lie but it was more of a stretching the truth rather than outright lying.

"You're that famous?" Yosuke responded now genuinely surprised.

Sasaki blushed a bit. "I'm not that good," she said trying to sound modest but I could easily see through her.

The two continued to talk until the conversation began to sound like playful flirting from Yosuke, which was kind of weird to me. Most men that talked to my guardian didn't do playful flirting; they outright tried to ask her out only to be shot down. Why Yosuke wasn't affected by Sasaki's sexy body wasn't a question since I already the answer, having sometimes seen the rare man talk to my guardian and did not ask her out.

Yosuke was already in a relationship. That was the only logical answer to his playful flirting.

"It was nice to talk with you, Sasaki-san," Yosuke said his smile lasting for what seemed to be forever. He checked his watch before continuing. "I have to be getting back to my plans so… later!"

Yosuke turned around and began jogging to wherever he needed to be, waving good-bye to us before disappearing.

"Hope we meet again, Hanamura-san!" Sasaki yelled waving.

"I hope I don't meet him again," I whispered. The guy was an idiot and just by being around him I felt exhausted.

"The day's already looking brighter, Kimi-chan!" Sasaki said before dropping a big spoonful of banana, ice cream, and various toppings down her throat. "You start school tomorrow so let's buy you all kinds of cute things you can wear with your uniform!"

Shopping is always good to me.

* * *

><p>After a few hours of trying on different outfits and accessories, watching the latest big movie in the theater, and eating a big dinner, Sasaki and I finally returned back to our new home. She had the great time she wanted to have with me and was exhausted afterwards. Both of us were too tired to unpack the boxes so we only got out our futons and got ready to sleep in our rooms. Sasaki fell asleep almost instantly, since I could hear her muffled snores in her room while I brushed my teeth in the bathroom. I was just about to change out of my peach camisole and jeans when I remembered about the text message.<p>

I took out my cell phone and opened up the message. I read the message again while leaning against the bathroom's blue-tinted white tile wall.

"Have a great time reliving your happiest memories…" I read out aloud.

If I hadn't met Yosuke, I might have not thought about calling the number. I couldn't disagree with what the idiot said. Calling this number didn't have that many downsides as one might think it would. Even if this was a joke, at least I would know the answer to my question. I would know the purpose of the message and I might manage to find out how they got my number.

My thumb pressed in the numbers at the bottom of the message. "191-9191," I whispered as my thumb pressed the numbers.

I held my cell phone up to my ear and listened to the ringing coming out. The phone rung twice before I heard the call being connected. I expected there to be an automated voice answering but no one spoke. Instead, I heard a sound like a cassette tape being rewound. When the cassette rewinding sound stop…

I heard the person talk.

"Move over, Dad, you're squishing me!" my voice when I was a child yelled from the phone. "I can't see the movie with you squishing me!"

What the hell is this? Why is my voice coming out of the phone?

"Alright, Kimi, I'll move over…" the next voice, the voice of a man, laughed. It was a voice that caused my eyes to water. "Just stop pinching your father."

"Dad?" I felt a lump appear in my throat while the voice continued to speak through my cell phone.

"You look so cute next to Daddy, Kimi," the next voice, this time the voice of a woman, chuckled. "Stay right there while I get the camera, dear."

Tears trickled down my cheek while I heard the footsteps of my mother hurrying to grab a camera while I tried to get away from having my picture taken. I remembered what was happening like it happened just yesterday. I knew just what words were going to be said and that only caused more tears to trickle down my cheeks.

"Stop it, Dad!" I heard myself scream. "I don't want my picture taken!"

"Oh, is my little girl scared of having her picture taken?" my dad laughed.

"I'm not!" I screamed back.

"Stay still, Kimi, or else you'll be all blurry," my mother said having reentered the conversation.

"Stop it!" I cried. I knew that my Dad was holding me down so Mom could take our picture.

A click of the camera came out of the cell phone and I heard myself beginning to cry as loud as I could. I was such a baby back then but my cries stopped as soon as I heard Mom speak.

"Don't cry, baby," Mom whispered into my ear. "Mom and Dad were just having a little fun…"

For a few seconds, the world shifted and I was a child again. I was back in the living room of my parent's house, sitting on the couch with both of my parents. Mom and dad were hugging me and I felt so much warmth that I couldn't help myself. I started crying again while Mom kissed my forehead. So many tears flowed down my cheeks while my parents hugged me tighter.

"We love you more than anything, our little Kimi," Mom and Dad whispered into my ear. "We won't let anything hurt you…"

The sound of a cassette running out of tape rung in my ears, signaling the end of the memory.

The world shifted back and I found myself on my knees in the bathroom, tears still flowing down my cheeks and staining my camisole. I brought my cell phone down so I could look at the screen of my phone…

But instead of seeing my cell phone, I only saw hundreds of black tendrils extending out of the cell phone and tried wrapping themselves around my arm.

I screamed as soon as I saw the tendrils and threw the phone by reflex. The phone flew through the air, the tendrils coming out of it following behind. The phone struck the wall of the bathroom and broke apart. The many components of my phone were laid out on the bathroom floor but the tendrils were still coming out of the black screen and were beginning to sprout out of the many other components. Whatever warmth I felt from the memory was gone now, my attention on these disgusting tendrils coming out of my phone.

"I found her! I FOUND KIMI AMAYA!" A voice screamed from my cell phone.

The next second, a massive black hand made out of the tendrils erupted out of the black screen of my phone and grabbed my whole head.

I screamed while the hand pulled me off the floor like I weighed as much as a feather.

Then the hand pulled me into an ocean of black water.

* * *

><p>I found myself at a circular area, lying on the grass. I heard the sounds of traffic in the distance and a ringing in my ears. From where I was, I couldn't see any part of the city past the tall trees. I was alone in this area of grass and trees… except for the granite statue of a man and woman holding hands that towered over me. I didn't want to know but I knew that the design of the statue only meant one thing and nothing else.<p>

It marked the ground where a couple was buried.

I got on my hands and knees and crawled closer to the inscription carved into the bottom of the statue.

"Here lies Jun and Kaede Amaya, beloved writers and parents…" the inscription said.

My eyes noticed something carved into the stone further down.

"AND THEIR WHORE OF A DAUGHTER, KIMI AMAYA!"

Two pairs of rotting hands erupted from the ground and grabbed my wrists and ankles. I screamed as the hands tried to pull me into the ground with them. I was the stronger one and I pulled my arms upwards, tearing the hands, along with most of the forearm, out of the ground. I frantically pulled my ankles out of the grip of the other hands and tried to run away. I didn't get any farther than the circle of tree surrounding the area before I found out that something was blocking my escape. I ran into an invisible wall and while I was trying to calm myself down, I heard something pushing its way out of the ground behind me. I turned around in an instant to see what had come out.

I almost fainted the moment I saw the rotting body of my father rising out of the ground with the armless body of my mother following behind. My dead parent's eyes were completely white and their teeth looked sharper than a normal human's. Their attention was on their breathing and living daughter.

They charged like boars towards me, gnashing their teeth while screaming at the top of their visible lungs.

"Don't kill her just yet, my shadows," a man's haughty-sounding voice said.

The zombies of my parents stopped in their tracks, them being just a few feet from their daughter.

I turned my head to the direction of the voice and saw the man it came from. The man had the darkest tanned skin I ever saw, which looked even darker when compared with the tropical fish-themed suit he wore. The man would have been the most handsome man I've seen if it weren't for that creepy expression of his. His handsome face was twisted by that haughty and excited expression he wore. I even noticed that he had a sort of jump in his steps while he walked toward me, stopping the moment he was in front of the zombies.

"I have found you, my raven-haired beauty!" He yelled spreading out his arms. "You don't know how long I was waiting for you, Kimi Amaya! Waiting for you to step into his realm and become trapped in our land!"

I wanted to ask him so many questions but my voice just wouldn't come out. My heart was beating against my chest and I couldn't stop myself from trembling. Just being in this place was sending shivers up my spine. My feet were stuck to the ground even though nothing was keeping them planted there. As much as I wanted to run, my body just would not listen. All I could do was to listen to this man.

"It was only a matter of time before you called the Nostalgia Line, Kimi Amaya," the man continued. "As soon as you called it, you were as good as dead! We had to go through quite a bit of others to get to you but it was worth it to finally have you in our realm!"

The man covered his close to grinning mouth with his sleeve and continued. "It's going to be so satisfying to see the memory of your parents rip your heart out and give it to me," he told her while grinning.

"Go and kill her," the man ordered snapping his fingers.

As soon as the zombies heard the snap, they leapt towards me, ready to rip my body to shreds with their teeth and claws.

So those zombies really are my parents? Is this man controlling their bodies to force them into killing their own daughter? That's the only logical solution that would explain this. My parents would never want to hurt me and yet this man is forcing them…

A new emotion filled my body while time slowed down around me.

I no longer felt anything stopping my body from moving as I raised my hand to the sky. I felt something rising from inside me and whatever it was, it felt enormous and powerful. I remembered the images of my Mom and Dad telling me that they love me. I remembered what they were, not what these things are. The more I remembered my parents, the bigger and more intense the feeling I felt got. The feeling grew until I felt its power spilling out of me. The moment I felt the power spill out, the bodies of my parents stopped as blue aura rose up around me. The zombies were frozen by the aura and could do nothing to breach it while the power continued to grow inside of me.

_Thou art I…and I am thou._

I opened my mouth to speak the single word that appeared in my mind.

"Per…"

"No! She can't be awakening!" the man screamed.

"So…"

"Hurry and kill her before she summons it!" the man screamed at the zombies. "We need her heart!"

Dozens of zombies erupted from the ground, each one with an appearance of either my Dad or Mom. Each one of the zombies tried to get past the blue aura but whenever one tried, that part of their body that touched the aura froze completely.

_I have arisen from the ocean inside your soul…_

"…Na!" I shouted at the top my lungs while a light exploded from my palm.

The zombies surrounding me were blasted away by a massive wave of salt water that came from the towering figure that was solidifying above me. I turned my head to see the tall woman floating above me. The woman had no clothes other than a thick fishnet that wrapped around her body many times. What was strange about the woman, however, was her skin. Her skin looked as if it were both ice and water, constantly moving like a liquid while still solid. The woman raised her ice-crowned head to the zombies that survived the salt water wave.

"I am Ran, the Norse Goddess of the Sea!" my Persona yelled at our enemies.

"Destroy them!" I yelled. "Don't let a single one of them survive, Ran!"

Ran was more than happy to comply. She raised her arms and swung them back down, releasing another yet stronger wave of salt water upon the zombies. The man stood amongst the salt water waves, unmoving while his zombies were being torn apart by my Persona.

"Bufu!" I yelled.

A bright flash of light shot out of Ran's palms that flash-froze the salt water and trapped every zombie caught in it. I grinned as the ice cracked and the zombies trapped within shattered with it. I looked at the soaked field of grass and didn't see the man amongst the frozen pieces of the zombies.

Maybe he got frozen along with them?

"How stupid are you?"

I was wrong about the man; he survived the attack. A trident pierced through the air as it struck my Persona's neck, slamming her against the barrier surrounding the area. The trident's prongs missed her neck but instead of piercing her body, it kept my Persona stuck to the barrier. Ran tried to pry the trident off but it was stuck. I could feel the cold metal of the trident touching my neck while I turned to see the man right in front of me.

The man's hand shot out and grabbed my neck. I kicked him over and over while he raised my body into the air. His hand was so cold that I thought my neck would freeze if I was in contact with him any longer.

"You are such a fool to think water would have damage the God of the Sea himself!" the man yelled right in my face. "I am the Greek God Poseidon! No one has more control over the element of water than me!

His name's Poseidon? Am I actually dealing with the Greek God himself?

Poseidon lifted his fingers and snapped them again.

"Arise, Giant Demon Gashadokuro!"

The frozen bones of the zombies rolled together, bones piling on more bones until the pile rose. The bones melted and reshaped themselves into a much larger version of the blue-tinted bones. I watched in horror as what was being created grew taller than everything around. In less than a minute, a ninety-foot tall skeleton stood in the middle of the frozen field of grass. The yellow flames in its giant eye sockets looked down on its master and the one it's meant to kill.

"I'll make sure your heart is undamaged when Gashadokuro crushes you under its foot," Poseidon said throwing me towards the skeleton.

I landed on the frozen grass right next to the demon's giant bone foot. Less than five minutes, I thought I had enough power to take anything but now that I'm seeing this demon raise its foot to crush me, I found out that I was wrong. Ran was still stuck to the barrier by Poseidon's trident so she couldn't save me. I'm going to be killed by this freak of nature.

I'm going to die when I still have questions to ask.

"Don't give up, Amaya-san!" A familiar voice yelled from the distance.

The loud engine of a motorcycle echoed through the area while Gashadokuro dropped its foot down on me. Right before I could be crushed by the demon, an arm grabbed my body and I was swept off the ground by a man on a motorcycle. I had the air knocked out of me but whoever grabbed me had got away fast enough for Gashadokuro to stomp on nothing. My rescuer spun his bright yellow motorcycle to a sudden stop while facing Poseidon.

"How the hell did you get into this realm?" Poseidon yelled at my savior. "Only Persona-users can forcefully enter this realm."

"For your information, I am a Persona-user," my savior answered taking off his helmet and I saw his face.

I saw that stupid face and that idiotic smile…

Yosuke Hanamura threw his helmet away and pointed at himself with his thumb, giving Poseidon an even more idiotic grin.

"The name's Yosuke Hanamura, second coolest man of Yasoinaba! And as of right now, the coolest man in all of Umizuo!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hope you liked the chapter. I made this chapter longer because I wanted to include Kimi's awakening and Yosuke saving her from the demon Gashadokuro and the god Poseidon.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: Clap for The Magician

Yosuke jumped off his motorcycle the moment Poseidon blasted towards us on a torrent of water. The trident that pinned my Persona Ran to the barrier flew back to its master, my Persona disappearing the moment she was no longer pinned. The torrent of water changed directions in midair, aiming back towards Yosuke and me. We were, however, in the air this time. Dodging both Poseidon's trident and his torrent of water just wasn't possible in midair. I almost let out a cry when Poseidon swung his trident forward. For a second, an image of the trident piercing through my chest through Yosuke's body popped into my head.

"I got it covered, Amaya-san," Yosuke said still smiling. The guy must've known what I was thinking when he saw my face.

The same blue aura that surrounded me began to appear around Yosuke. A single tarot card floated down into his hand.

"Susano-o!" Yosuke yelled shattering the card in his hand.

A tall human-like being appeared in the air above us the moment after Yosuke shattered the tarot card. I only took a glance but that was enough to see Yosuke's Persona. I didn't believe it at first but with that light blue disco outfit and tall flaming red hair, Yosuke's Persona certainly looked like it came from him. The only part of the Persona that looked useful was the circular saw blade that floated around it.

Susano-o proved to be useful when its red-gloved hand grabbed Yosuke's collar and pulled him out of the way of Poseidon's attack. The Greek God shot past us and spun around in the air, dispersing the torrent of water. Poseidon floated in the air, his sea-green eyes looking down on Yosuke, his Persona, and me.

Poseidon took in a deep breath before shouting "Gashadokuro!"

Was it possible to actually forget about the ninety-foot tall skeleton standing in the middle of the area?

Apparently it was since Susano-o was struck by the skeleton's massive hand and was sent crashing into the ground. Yosuke let out a small cry as he gritted his teeth. Seeing his pained expression gave me more information about the Persona.

Any damage done to the Persona is reflected onto the User. This would explain why I felt Poseidon's trident touching my neck when it was pinning my Persona to the barrier. Remembering this rule would be useful in the future.

Yosuke dropped me the moment we landed on the grass. His left hand clutched his other arm, the same arm of his Susano-o that was struck by Gashadokuro.

"Is it broken?" I asked.

"That skeleton is a bit stronger than I thought," Yosuke chuckled.

Answer my question with a clear answer, idiot!

Even though that chuckle made me scowl, Yosuke's expression turned serious in less than a second.

Again Yosuke saved me when he kicked me away, Poseidon's trident striking the ground where I used to stand. I was stunned for a few seconds before I noticed the giant skeleton starting to attack again.

Gashadokuro roared as it swung its hands down on us.

"This is getting to be a pain in the ass!" Yosuke said through his teeth.

"Persona!" I yelled holding my hand above me. The blue aura rose above my body again and Ran was summoned. Although I didn't say any orders, Ran reacted the way I wanted her to. She swung her hands upwards and a massive amount of salt water erupted out of the ground. Ran moved her hands to control the saltwater, creating a dome of it above me, Yosuke, and his Persona.

"Bufu!"

Ran fired a flash of white-blue energy into the dome of saltwater and it froze in an instant. The giant skeleton's hand bashed against the dome, causing frost to drop down on us, but we were safe inside the dome for now.

I checked on Yosuke, ignoring the bashing sounds coming from above.

"I thank you for saving me before but I have to ask, how do you expect to get us out of this situation?" I asked him feeling his arm. Just as I thought, it was broken.

"I have a plan," Yosuke answered. "All we have to do is…"

"Don't tell me," I interrupted. "I have a feeling I'll object to whatever you're going to say, good plan or not."

"You know, you kind of remind me of a girl I know," Yosuke said frowning. "She thought any plans I made were not going to work…"

"Nice to know but I don't care if I'm like anyone you know. What's important now is figuring out how to defeat these guys."

"Defeat? You want to beat these guys?" Yosuke asked giving me a confused look.

"Defeating these two is the only way out, that's the only logical solution I can think of right now," I told him.

"So you're one of those people who follow what their brain is telling them?" Yosuke asked. "Listen, if you continue acting like that, you'll regret one day."

"We can't escape this place, idiot!" I yelled. I shouldn't have gotten mad but Yosuke was just too irritating. I didn't like that smile of his or that optimistic personality. We were in a dangerous situation and he's not taking it seriously at all. "There's a barrier surrounding this entire area that is blocking any escape and even if we get past that, we have no guarantee that Poseidon and that skeleton won't follow! We can't run away from a god! And I know that we can't win against them either!"

After yelling at Yosuke as loud as I could, I finally lowered my voice. My legs gave out and I fell to my knees. Before taking in a deep breath, I told him one last thing.

"I just don't want to die running like a coward," I whispered.

The bashing outside got louder and the dome began to crack above us. Larger amounts of frost mixed with tiny clumps of ice fell around us.

"Sounds like you're the idiot between us," Yosuke responded.

Before I was mad but after hearing that him calling me the idiot, I snapped. I swung my fist at his face, using every bit of strength I had. My fist struck him but the man didn't move at all from his spot. With my fist still in contact with the right side of his face, Yosuke's expression changed. I may have seen him get serious before but this expression was one that shouldn't have fit with him.

Yosuke stared at me with a sad expression.

My anger dispersed almost immediately when I saw that sad expression on his face.

"You don't want to die running but want to die fighting? It doesn't matter which one you pick, you're dead either way," Yosuke told me. "I don't want anyone around me to die if I can prevent it and I'm sure if we don't give up, the way out will appear. I fought gods before, Amaya-san. There were times while I fought that I thought it was impossible but I couldn't just stop fighting when my best friend was still trying. My friends and I won… we defeated gods and saved humanity because our leader wouldn't give up."

Looking at his face, I knew Yosuke was not lying. He had experience fighting these kinds of enemies, something that I didn't. If there is a way to survive this, then I have to listen to him. I couldn't see it before because my terror of dying and anger towards Yosuke's cheerful personality but now I felt calm. My mind could think clearly now. I knew that Yosuke was just as terrified as I was but his memory of his best friend not giving up in hopeless situations was giving him enough courage to fight. To hide his terror from me, he put on a mask of cheerfulness. He tried to act normally around me ever since he saved my life.

And I only got angry at him for it.

I stepped away from Yosuke, taking my fist off his face. "I'm sorry…"

The dome of ice took its last blow and crumbled around us. Ran and Susano-o hurried to our sides and protected their users from the falling blocks of ice. With the dome of ice gone, I saw Poseidon standing in the air while Gashadokuro looked ready to crush us. The god had a wicked grin on his face, as if he knew that we couldn't run away from him anymore.

"Said your last words inside that ice cube?" Poseidon asked.

He didn't expect an answer, he asked out of sheer pleasure of seeing our expressions.

Too bad for him, neither Yosuke nor I were scared of him anymore.

"Make your Persona disappear, Amaya-san," Yosuke told me.

I didn't know what he was planning but I decided to follow his decision and made my Persona Ran disappear. Yosuke soon did the same with his Susano-o.

"Not to sound disrespectful but how does lowering our only weapon help us?" I asked just curious about his plan.

Yosuke, however, didn't answer my question. He took one quick glance to his side and smiled.

He didn't even bother to tell me what he planned to do when he grabbed my hand with his good arm and began running. One quick glance forward and I found what Yosuke took a glance for and what his plan was.

His motorcycle was still where he left it, the vehicle having been lucky before when Poseidon first attacked Yosuke with a torrent of water and changed direction when he jumped off.

With that motorcycle, only one plan was possible.

"We're running away!" I yelled out of sheer surprise.

"If I was able to get in, I should be able to get out," Yosuke answered running.

Yosuke jumped on his bike and I got on behind him. Yosuke strained himself as he lifted his broken arm and placed both of his hands on the handles. He must've ignored the pain in his arm as the motorcycle's wheels spun against the wet grass.

"Stop him, Gashadokuro!" Poseidon ordered.

We heard the skeleton roar but neither of us bothered to turn our heads. Yosuke kept his eyes in front of him while the motorcycle sped forward. We were nearing the barrier surrounding the area and I closed my eyes, expecting us to crash into it and explode. An image of that situation was all I could think about while the motorcycle got closer.

But that impact never came.

I opened my eyes, wondering why we didn't crash.

We were no longer surrounded by trees or any kind of plant life. Instead, we were riding through a tunnel of rock and darkness, the road in front of us illuminated by the motorcycle's light. We continued to ride through the tunnel until I saw the light at the end. Yosuke and I exited the tunnel and while Yosuke drove, I could see the town of Umizuo. The town didn't look that far away though, only a few miles or more. We even got back onto paved road in less than a minute. This tunnel to who knows where was only a twenty-minute drive from the city by car.

After riding for ten or so minutes, Yosuke finally slowed his motorcycle down and parked at the side of the road, where a single bus-top bench stood. We got off the vehicle and I watched as Yosuke sat down at the bench, holding his broken arm and started breathing deeply.

"We escaped," I said looking in the direction where the tunnel was located. "And they're not following us."

"Told you," Yosuke said giving me a strained smile. "Figured they couldn't come into the Real World since we were able to use Persona's in that place and because we were Persona Users with a Real World body, we could leave."

"What do you mean we can't use Persona's here?" I asked taking a seat on the other side of the bench.

"We can't use Persona's in the Real World for some reason," Yosuke answered. "That means the demons can't come into this world either without an outside influence of some kind. Gods may have the power to enter our world under some conditions. The god I fought back in Yasoinaba could only come out on rainy days and she was a really powerful one."

"So neither that Gashadokuro or Poseidon without the right conditions could follow us outside?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of."

Yosuke and I were silent for a minute before another question came to mind.

"You came to save me but how did you know I was in danger?" That question was one I wanted to ask since Yosuke came into that world.

"A friend I made here is a Persona User too," he answered. "While her Persona can't fight, it can find places where there's an unusual amount of Shadows, which led me to you."

I wanted to ask what Shadows were but Yosuke told me before I could.

"Shadows are like demons in some ways and not in others," he told me. "There's a lot more about them that would take too long to explain right now."

I would have liked to know the answers right now but I could wait.

Again we sat in silence until I opened my mouth, not to ask him a question but to say what I was thinking.

"Poseidon's going to come back for me, I know it," I told Yosuke. "He wants my heart for some plan but I'm not going to let him have it. I'm not going to give up until I know that I'm safe. I'll continue to fight, Hanamura-san, until I achieve that goal."

"Nice to know that you actually listened to me," Yosuke chuckled.

"I'm going to need to know everything you know later," I told him.

Yosuke stopped chuckling and turned to me, a smile still on his face. This time, his smile didn't irritate me in any way. This smile was warming to see.

"I'll be glad to help you, Amaya-san, until the day you're no longer being chased by gods or demons," he said holding out his good hand. "So how about we shake hands to close the deal?"

I returned his smile and shook his hand.

It was the moment that I decided to fight for my life and live. I was still terrified of Poseidon but I was going to face him again in the future. He will not have my heart or whatever he needs. Nobody's life will be destroyed just so this unknown plan can come to fruition.

I vowed this when I shook Yosuke's hand.

The moment after I shook his hand, however, time stopped and a voice rung in my head.

_Thou art I… and I art thou…_

_Thou hast established a new bond…_

_It brings thee closer to a new life…_

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana…_

* * *

><p>I was back in the Velvet Room, Igor and his child assistant Irene sitting across from me on this white dining table. The room still looked like the same dining room in a ship as before. Nothing looked any different. The tables and candles were in the same place and the candles still illuminated the room. The only differences were the tome-like book Irene held and the two new strangers standing on the dining room's stage. One of the strangers was a tall woman wearing a blue dress singing into a microphone while covering her ears with her hands. The other was a man wearing a blue suit playing the piano next to the woman, a blue blindfold preventing his eyes from seeing the keys.<p>

The man still played such beautiful music despite being blind and the woman's voice was so relaxing that I no longer felt threatened while I sat at that table.

"It appears you have awakened, my dear," Igor chuckled. "And you even established your first social link; the bonds that will help you complete your adventure."

Irene smiled as she lifted her book and opened it to the first page. The first page had a picture of Yosuke and me sitting on the bus bench shaking hands. On the other page was a blue tarot card with image of a strange man-like figure walking with a dog-like drawing following behind. The card had the number 0 written right below the image.

"The Fool is an interesting card to possess, Kimi Amaya," Igor told me. "It personifies both nothing and infinity, much like the number 0 after which it is numbered in the Major Arcana. The Fool is the Wild Card, the infinite possibilities of those that wield it. The Fool happens to be your card, my dear."

Having a card called the Fool be mine sounds a bit insulting for some reason…

Igor chuckled as he continued. "While I would like to tell you more about the Fool Arcana, I have to ask. Did you find the answer to my question?"

His question about what goes into creating the masks Humanity wears? The first time I heard it, it was beyond confusing since I couldn't find the answer but now the answer seemed obvious. Awakening my Persona was because of the answer to his question. The reason Yosuke was able to fool me with his positivity could only be done with the answer to Igor's question. Now that I understood what the answer was, I was ready to tell Igor.

"It's Memories," I answered. "Without memories, the experiences or thoughts one had in life, the mask created would fall apart quickly, exposing the individual to Reality. Creating a mask of false happiness cannot happen if that person does not remember what it was like to have false happiness before. One needs memories to create the Masks they wear to face life's hardships."

"Absolutely correct, Kimi Amaya," Igor chuckled satisfied with my answer.

"I thought she would get it wrong," Irene said. "Guess I lose my bet with Nameless…"

"Memories are important in creating the Mask and the Persona, my dear," Igor continued ignoring his assistant. "The Persona is the Mask that Humanity wears but what would happen if one does not have the memories of who they are? The Persona would fall apart and disappear along with the individual…"

"And yet there is a being who steals memories."

A being who steals memories?

"Is it Poseidon and his Nostalgia Line?" I asked. "Because I met the god and he tried to steal my heart for some kind of plan. What does my heart have to do with anything?"

"Igor can't answer your questions, Kimi," Irene answered. "He cannot answer your questions, only help you with your journey when

"But what I can tell you," Igor said. "Is that Poseidon is not the one behind this mystery. Just like myself, he is a servant of a being much more powerful and ancient…"

"But he can't tell you his name," Irene added. "You're going to have to find those answers yourself, Kimi."

Someone even more powerful than a god? If such a thing exists, why does it want my heart to complete its plans? Something more powerful than a god shouldn't need a young girl's heart...

A loud bell rang throughout the Velvet Room.

It was almost time for me to leave again.

"I would like to pass on one more bit of advice to you before you leave, Kimi Amaya," Igor said when the light began to be all I saw.

"On your journey you will find people filled with doubt about who they are, help them and they will return the favor in the future."

So, help people and I'll get help in return. Good advice, even if it sounds like something you would try to teach a child…

"I await our next meeting, Kimi Amaya," Igor said once the light filled my sight.

…..

I didn't know what was happening when I woke up from my time in the Velvet Room.

My eyes were blurry from sleep but I tried my best to recognize my surroundings. After trying a few times, I noticed that I was moving up the paved path to my house but I don't know how since I wasn't walking.

Until I noticed the clump of brown hair in front of me.

"Hanamura-san?" I whispered.

"Finally awake, Princess Amaya?" Yosuke joked as he continued to climb up the path towards my house with me on his back.

"But your arm is broken…"

"Don't worry about me," he chuckled. "A broken bone or two isn't to stop me. Just go back to asleep and you'll wake in your bed in the morning."

Seeing Yosuke carry on his back despite his still broken arm made me rethink about how I treated him before. I don't know why but his smile irritated me for some reason. Looking at that cheerful smile of his just made me sick but now, I don't seem to have any problem.

"I'm sorry about punching you," I whispered. "I was really mad and scared…"

"Come on, I told you to not worry," Yosuke laughed. "Besides, my girlfriend thinks I'm an idiot too and kicks me when I do something idiotic. She's a lot stronger than you, believe me."

I wanted to say something else before I lost consciousness again.

"When I said I thanked you for saving my life, I didn't mean it, Hanamura-san," I told him. "I wished that I could save myself and hated that I needed you to save me. But right now, I'm truly grateful that you came and saved me. Thank you for saving me, Hanamura-san."

Yosuke laughed again as he spoke. "Friends always help each other when they need it," he said. Then he laughed again, this time with a hint of nervousness. "We're friends, right?"

Yosuke considered me to be one of his friends…

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah… you're my friend, Yosuke," I answered.

"Calling me Yosuke now, huh? Guess that means I can call you Kimi."

I laughed with him while we reached my house, my heart feeling a bond form between us.

Time stopped yet again and the voice said the same speech as last time, instead this time it said 'The Magician' in place of 'The Fool'.

"Good night, Yosuke," I whispered falling back asleep.

"Have a nice dream, Kimi, you deserve it…" Yosuke whispered back.


	4. Chapter 4: The Death of Amnesia

"Oh, you look so cute, Kimi-chan!" Sasaki squealed when I came out of my room, wearing the school uniform of Umizuo's local high school. While my guardian was obviously delighted to see me in the uniform, I was slightly embarrassed to be wearing that bright blue blazer and skirt. The clothes were much too brightly colored for my tastes and If I'm correct, the skirt is a centimeter shorter than regulation size. As much as I would like to be wearing something else, I knew that I would get in trouble for not wearing it.

"To think I'll be forced to wear this for most of the week," I sighed. Sunday would be the only I'll be allowed to wear what I wanted to.

"It's not that bad, Kimi-chan. I'm going to bet that no one else at your school will look as good as you do in that uniform," Sasaki said. She was enjoying this too much.

Sasaki hurried to her van where her camera was still in the back seat for the last week. I followed her outside to the driveway and a few feet away from the van, watching her throw out trash while looking for that camera.

"Found it," she said pulling the digital camera out of an old plastic bag. She turned to him, putting the camera up to her eye.

"Keep looking cute for the camera, Kimi-chan," she said pressing the shutter.

I flinched as the camera blinded me with its flash. Having my picture taken after what happened last night felt a little uncomfortable but I dealt with it.

"Can I get my ride to school now?" I asked my guardian.

If I'm late to my class, I'm going to blame it on you Aunt Sasaki…

…

At Suzama High School…

My eyes hurt just looking at the students walking into the three-story school building. Everyone else at the high school wore the same bright uniform that I did and with so many of those uniforms together, it strained my eyes to stay open. Upon closer inspection, I saw that I was the only one who had this problem. Everyone else's eyes must be used to the stronger light the sun gave off in this town than I was. They didn't even seem bothered so much by the light.

Squinting my way through the brick path up was the only way I got to the school's entrance.

I got to remember to buy sunglasses when school is over…

When I got through the front doors, it got a bit easier to see. At least I no longer looked like I needed glasses as I walked up the stairs to the second floor hallway. It didn't take long for me to reach the classroom at the end of the hall but the moment I pushed the sliding doors open and stepped into the classroom, I was greeted by an eraser and a cloud of chalk.

The next second, I heard voices of disappointment while I stood at the door, my head covered in chalk.

"Who's that girl?"

"The teacher was supposed to be the next one who came in…"

"It doesn't even look that funny on her…"

"It's her expression that's taking all the fun out of it…"

"My expression, huh? Is my expression conveying what emotions of bloodlust I'm feeling? I may be smiling but I wonder how do I look right now to these idiots?

I was all ready to give my classmates a reason to be scared of me for the year until someone bumped into me from behind.

"Huh? What are you doing in front of the door?" the woman asked looking down at me. The woman wore a long yellow jacket over her white shirt and wore a yellow straight skirt. Her black hair was losing its color and some strands were turning grey. Despite being middle-aged, she looked like she used to be beautiful when she was younger.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said as the teacher walked past me and to the podium at the front of the class.

"I'll let this one go so hurry up and take your seat," the teacher said opening her attendance folder.

I bowed to the teacher and hurried to the last empty seat in the classroom, patting my hair to get some of the chalk out. The last empty seat was a suspicious desk in the back corner next to the window, usually the first desk taken. I wondered why nobody took the seat since it was at the most desirable place in the classroom. I sat down in the desk even though I was still curious about why nobody took it. I had to focus on the teacher while ignoring my curiosity.

"My name is Saeko Takami and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next year," the teacher told everyone in the class. "Let's take attendance before I get into what rules we have at this school…"

Takami-sensei continued to take the attendance of every student in the classroom, me taking the chance to remember each student's name in the class for future use. When she was done taking attendance, she went to explain the rules of the school, which was almost the same as the last high school I went to. I didn't bother remembering any of the rules I already wouldn't break as I stared out the window.

That's when I noticed the sun moving into view outside the window and found out why my seat wasn't taken. The sun's position high in the sky meant the whole row next to the window was burned by the sun's light, my desk the first one to be affected. While the teacher spoke, I was sweating beads and my uniform stuck to my skin. The chalk in my hair came out with the sweat and left white streaks on my face. I, and the students in the same row as me, had to endure the sunlight until the bell rang. I could barely listen to Takami-sensei while I was cooking in that sunlight but the moment the ball rang, I hurried to leave the class and basked in the cool air of the hallway.

If I had to endure that sunlight every day, not only will I get a tan but I would have to regularly buy sunscreen just so I don't burn into a crisp.

"Wow, first day in Umizuo and it seems like everything's working against you," a girl's high-pitched voice said while I stood in the cool hallway.

I turned around to see the girl whose name I remembered as Chikako Kimura. She must've had a foreign parent because her hair was a silver blonde and her face had the same features as a foreign woman. She wore her school uniform like me but had added a few accessories to individualize the clothes. Several key-chains hung her cuffs while the animals that used to be on the chains were sewn onto her uniform. While it did look childish, Chikako somehow pulled it off.

"I'm sorry for the prank we pulled off," she said. "You weren't supposed to enter the class before the teacher and that you got stuck in the desks next to the window. None of the other classmates are mature enough so I'll apologize on their behalf as well."

Wow, she sure acts like an adult but... "Putting an eraser on the door is one of the most childish tricks there is," I told her. "You're saying everyone else in the class is immature but you must've been with them since it sounds like you had a part."

Chikako chuckled at my comment. "Well, I thought it would be a tiny bit funny so I played along," she told me.

My response was to merely stare at her.

Chikako was obviously intimidated by my stare. She turned around and got ready to walk away before speaking.

"If you have the time, please check out the Occult Club, Kimi Amaya," she said smiling at me. "We're a bit short on members at the moment so we'll accept you into the club even if you don't come at all."

I knew it; she only apologized to me just so I would feel pressured to join her club. Normally I would get irritated by her manipulation but I had just survived a life or death situation just last night. I was also given the task to help people who needed it and while I didn't quite understand what Igor was saying at the moment, I knew he wanted me to find people who needed help. The problem, however, was how am I supposed to know who needed help or not?

"Stop thinking so much," I whispered to myself.

The bell rung once again, surprising me.

I had to get to my next class soon.

…

School ended and while I was already tired of the sun, I would have to deal with it until Sasaki came to pick me up at evening. She gave me some money to waste time in the town while she worked in her studio at the house. Until it became dark, I was free to go wherever I liked as long I went to the spot where Sasaki said she'll pick me up. While I could spend some time at the mall, there was only one place that mattered right now. That place would be where I would be visiting.

I had to take a trip to the hospital to check on Yosuke.

I was quick to receive directions to the local hospital and hurried to my destination. It took me less than an hour to reach the hospital and entered through the sliding glass doors. The inside was all white just like other hospitals and had a few patients walking around with nurses. I went to the front desk and got the location of the room Yosuke was staying in. After walking up a few flights of stairs to the third floor, I reached Yosuke's room.

I grabbed the cold handle of the door and took in a deep breath.

"Kimi-chan, how nice of you to visit a friend while he's in the hospital," Yosuke practically shouted from the hospital bed. His whole right arm was placed inside a cast while there were bandages wrapped around his chest. "I was getting bored of these doctors telling me what an idiot I am for straining my broken arm…"

"As if I don't already know that, right?" he laughed.

At least he's admitting he's an idiot.

"I'm not here to visit you," I said. "I'm here because I want you to tell me everything you know about what's happening in this town."

"It's all business for you, isn't it?" Yosuke sighed. "That's alright though; I was planning to tell you everything sooner or later."

"Start with telling me what's happening to this town and why you're here," I told him.

"I would like a…"

"Please," I interrupted.

Yosuke sighed. "All right, I'll tell you why I came to this town," he said.

"Since three months ago, there have been a rise in missing persons and when they find them, all that's left is a person who can't remember anything," Yosuke explained. "My friend Naoto Shirogane was the one who noticed that something was wrong in this town. She wanted to be the one to investigate it but she had her hands full with a few cases and since I was the only person available, she sent me to Umizuo to find the source of these disappearances. It took me a while but as of yesterday, I finally found out that the Nostalgia Line is the reason behind everything in this town. I'm sorry that it had to take you being kidnapped to find it out..."

"You saved my life so don't worry," I told him.

So Yosuke came here at the request of a friend and has been here for a while, searching for the reason behind the disappearances. That investigation led him to the Nostalgia Line.

"That means the Nostalgia Line has been around for three months," I said. "People have been receiving the same text message I did yesterday and called it, only to be pulled into that world and killed by Poseidon."

"That's right but what I don't get is that there are survivors," Yosuke said. "If you went to the psychiatric ward right now, you'll find a few of them. Some were injured but somehow, they managed to escape that world without any help."

"People who escaped that world…" I repeated.

Until I remembered that I found a survivor yesterday.

"Wait, I know somebody who might have survived!" I said out loud.

Without bothering to the rest of what Yosuke had to say, I turned around and hurried into the hallway. The man I found yesterday, Santou, must have been a survivor of that world. He managed to escape the world that almost killed me. Even if he didn't remember anything, he might have a hint as to who's behind this mess. I might get a hint about the person who is the master of Poseidon.

I ran past the other patients and the nurses until I reached the hallway labeled the Psychiatric Ward. Santou was inside one of these rooms. I went and asked one of the nurses walking in the hallway. She pointed at the room located just in the middle of the hallway and said that was where the new patient was.

Once again, I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Santou was lying down on his hospital bed, bandages wrapped over most of his body. From where I stood, he looked fragile and the expression he had was even more fragile. He still looked like he was trying to remember who he was but couldn't find a single memory. His belongings, his cleaned yet ruined suit and a cell phone laid on the night stand next to his bed. His wallet was in his hands, opened to show him his ID.

It was probably the only thing he had that reminded him of his name.

It took a while but Santou noticed me standing at his door.

Fortunately he recognized my face. "You're the girl who found me," Santou said dropping his wallet. He looked strained as if he was trying to remember something again. "You're, um… your name… what was it?"

"I haven't told you my name yet," I told him. "It's Kimi Amaya, in case you want to know."

"I'm sorry but I'm having a bit of a problem remembering anything before yesterday," Santou said looking down at the floor. He turned his head back to the wallet on his lap and picked it up. "The only thing I remember is that my name's Hotaka Santou and that's only because of my ID. If I only remembered where I live, maybe I can find something else to spark my memory."

"You really don't remember anything?" I asked.

"Nothing that was important," Santou answered. "I still remember everything I learned in school and a bunch of business-related information. It's like I don't remember anything that tells me who I am or was. Any memory that had me in it is gone…"

It was just as bad as I thought, every memory he's had in his life had been erased by something. He hasn't forgotten anything he's learned but everything else was gone. Whoever he was before is gone.

My eyes fell on his cell phone.

Maybe he has the text message…

"Can I see your phone?" I asked.

"Sure, I already went through it," he answered. "There's nothing on it except for one program that does nothing but make the screen black. Everything else on my phone has been erased just like my memories."

I pressed the screen of his phone and just like he said, there was nothing on the phone that could possibly help him regain his memories. No addresses, phone numbers, or text messages; the phone was erased completely of all things linked to him.

Despite the phone being erased, one program stayed behind.

The Nostalgia Line program installed onto the phone.

The fact that he had the Nostalgia Line installed onto his phone was enough proof to me that Santou had called it. I knew that he called the Nostalgia Line and because of that, he lost every one of his memories when he escaped. It didn't tell me anything that would lead towards the culprit but it was enough to prove that the Nostalgia Line was behind the cases of amnesia in Umizuo.

I felt like pressing the Nostalgia Line's tiny phone icon on his phone…

It was dangerous but since Santou had already called Nostalgia Line and had it installed onto his phone, I could possibly check his program for any clues. I could have done this with my phone… had I not smashed it against the bathroom floor last night.

"Here goes," I said pressing the icon on the screen.

The phone screen went black for a second before seven words appeared on the black screen.

Would you like to replay the recording?

A 'yes' and 'no' soon popped up afterwards.

Without thinking, my thumb touched the white 'yes' on the screen. Soon after pressing the 'yes', I began hearing the same rewinding of a tape cassette that had happened the last time. The rewinding stopped with a click and we began hearing the sounds of laughter mixed with a cassette tape running.

Santou dropped his wallet and looked right at me with an expression of realization mixed with surprise when a woman's voice spoke out of the phone.

"Come on, Hotaka, you have to carry me through the door," a woman giggled. Her voice sounded a bit like she was slurring her words, as if she was drunk. "It's the rule for married couples on their honeymoons. You have to do it for your wife…"

A man's voice, Santou's voice, laughed. "All right, Yomiko, I'll pick you right up!" he laughed.

The woman, Yomiko, gave a shrill laugh as what I suspect was Santou lifting her off the ground. The two continued to laugh as I heard Santou kicking open a door. Telling from what was happening in the recording, I guess Santou was on his honeymoon with his wife Yomiko and the two of them were drunk as they kept laughing and sprouting nonsense throughout the whole recording.

I heard someone, probably Yomiko, falling onto a bed. The sounds of lips kissing soon came out…

"You're too good for me," Santou's voice whispered.

"I have low standards," Yomiko giggled.

The embarrassing sounds continued until the sound of tape running out came. The recording had ended there and the black screen returned to normal. I sat there on the chair, staring at the phone screen.

For some reason, I was able to replay the recording of Santou's happiest memory and while I waited for the black tendrils to pop out, nothing happened. I played the Nostalgia Line without being summoned to that world. Maybe it's because it isn't my memory being played? The only explanation that came to me was that since Santou called the Nostalgia Line and had it installed onto his phone, it had to be his memory that was installed. That would answer why it wasn't my memory being played instead.

"I remember…" Santou whispered.

I looked up at Santou. "You remember who you are?" I asked standing up.

Santou shook his head. "No, I still can't remember about me but I remembered," he said smiling. "I remembered that I have a wife! It's like everything I remember about her is coming back to me!"

I had come in here to find a hint about the one behind everything and instead I unknowingly helped the man who forgot who he was. Seeing him happy about finally remembering something about his life was worth not finding much information about the mastermind. Instead of finding hints, I found out some answers about the Nostalgia Line and how it works.

"Thank you so much, Kimi Amaya-san," Santou said wiping his eyes. "Thanks to you, I'm remembering my wife."

"Don't thank me, I originally came here to ask you questions about your injuries and how you got them," I confessed.

"You still helped me remember parts of my life and for that, I'm grateful," he said smiling. "I would like it if you visit me often. Maybe you can help me get back my memory?"

Looking at Santou's expression, I saw that he believed that I could help him regain his memory. I felt a sense of trust emanating from the man…

And then time stopped and again I heard the voice ringing in my head

_Thou art I… and I am thou…_

_Thou hast established a new bond…_

_It brings thee closer to a new life…_

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Persona of the Death Arcana…_

Death Arcana does not sound good considering whose Arcana it belongs to.

"Well, thanks for your time, Santou-san," I said bowing to the man. "I'll come visit you again and maybe next time, you'll be able to answer my questions about your accident."

Santou waved to me as I left the room, his expression still looking happy about the fact he remembered some parts of his life.

"There you are, Kimi!" Yosuke yelled hurrying to where I stood. He looked exhausted, as if he ran around the hospital looking for me.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"Someone received a Nostalgia Line text message," Yosuke said while gasping for air.

I reacted immediately. "How do you know someone got one of them?"

"My friend Fuuka is monitoring the phone line or something, I don't really understand what she was saying," Yosuke answered in a hurry. "In short, she found someone receiving a Nostalgia Line text on their phones and found out who the phone belongs to. I can't help you with this broken arm, Kimi, so you have to find this person n your own…"

Yosuke slumped against the wall. "Wow, painkillers and a broken arm sure get rid of stamina," Yosuke said to himself. "I haven't felt this exhausted for years…"

"Get to the point!" I yelled kicking him in the shin. Yosuke gritted his teeth while I continued. "Who received the Nostalgia Line text?"

Yosuke answered and for a second, I didn't believe him.

"A girl named Chikako Kimura…"


	5. Chapter 5: Comforting Temperance

My mission was to find Chikako Kimura and prevent her from calling the Nostalgia Line. It may have sounded simple at first when I left the hospital but as soon as I was walking through the town, I figured out how wrong I was.

I had no idea where Chikako lived or even where she hung out. Maybe I could've gotten the information from Yosuke or his friend Fuuka but since I didn't have a phone and Yosuke was restrained to his bed with visiting time over, those options were no longer available to me. Banging my head against the street lamp let me remember that Chikako offered to let me join the occult club. As long as she didn't call the number, she would be safe until I could find the club's classroom. The only problem would be how to convince her not to call the Nostalgia Line. Telling her that it will either kill her or erase every memory of who she is would end up with me looking like an idiot.

Thinking around that problem was all I could while I waited at the spot Sasaki told me she would pick me up at… and bang my head against the streetlamp until she came.

My forehead felt a little swollen when I heard that loud van drive up to me.

"What took so long?" I asked while I rubbed the red spot on my forehead. I took my seat next to her.

"Really got into my work, Kimi-chan," she answered pressing on the gas. She smiled at me while she drove the van back to our home. "So what does the genius Kimi Amaya thinks about her new school?"

Sitting at the desk where the sun cooks you for most of the class, having a prank mess up and hit me instead, and now having to save a classmate from a divine entity could only be considered horrible. My guardian, however, only wanted to hear a positive or somewhat neutral response.

"It's alright," I answered.

"You'll get used to it soon," Sasaki responded. She was still smiling while she drove up the path to our house.

I could get used to the sun blazing down on me but I'm sure I'll get used to how confusing my life had suddenly got since I began living in Umizuo. It's only been two days and already I escaped the God of the ocean and witnessed the image of my parents being turned into zombies that tried to kill me. Tomorrow, I was willing to experience that with whatever memories Chikako had and all so she doesn't die or lose her memory. Just having a Persona wasn't enough for me to fight against Poseidon or the giant skeleton Gashadokuro; going back to that world would be suicide.

But I had a chance if I could prevent Chikako from calling the Nostalgia Line. If she never calls the number, then I won't have to take my chances against Poseidon and whatever demon created from her memories. The thought of having to face that god again was enough to send a shiver down my spine. I also didn't like the possibility that a demon like Gashadokuro might appear in that world.

While I laid out my futon, I kept going over ways I could get Chikako away from calling that number.

* * *

><p>Again, I found myself sitting at that dining table in the middle of the Velvet Room. While I expected to see the cryptic Igor and his assistant Irene sitting across from me, today only the little girl was sitting at the table. The blindfolded man and the singing woman were in the same place as they were last time. The man played the piano while the woman sung to his music on the dining room's stage. The music they played was just as relaxing as they were before and I found my mind to be clearing the longer I listened to them. I no longer felt the stress that had been building since I heard Chikako received the Nostalgia Line message.<p>

"Looks like you've been summoned but Igor isn't around," Irene said noticing my presence.

Irene jumped out of her chair and made her way towards me. She took my hand and pulled me out of my chair. The thought of walking around this weird room hadn't crossed my mind before but I was walking with the little girl pulling on my hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked. Looking around, I saw that the room only had a single door in the middle of the wide wall behind me.

"Igor never disappears without a reason," Irene answered. "Maybe the fact you were summoned during his disappearance means that he wanted his new assistant to take care of you until he returns. Until Igor returns, I'll show you around the Velvet Room and its other residents…"

Irene led me towards the stage where the man was playing with the woman singing along to his music. Irene climbed up onto the stage and gestured me to follow. When I got up onto the stage, Irene walked over to the man playing the piano.

"Kimi Amaya, meet our master pianist Nameless," Irene said looking at the man wearing a blue blindfold.

The man called Nameless turned his head towards us, his fingers still playing the piano as if they were a separate entity from the man.

"It is a pleasure to meet such a beautiful person such as you, Kimi Amaya," Nameless said giving me a tiny smile. "It has been over two-thousand and ninety-one nights since the Velvet Room was too small for Belladonna and I to play in front of our guest. I must thank you, Kimi Amaya, for recreating the Velvet Room into its current shape. There is more than enough space for Belladonna and I to play our Aria of the Soul. Our music has a much greater effect if we can see the guest we are playing for."

"Um… you're welcome," I whispered unable to take my eyes off his blindfold.

"You're wondering why he has a blindfold on, aren't you," Irene said noticing my curious expression.

Nameless chuckled as he turned his head back to the piano keys. "I wear this blindfold so that I am able to see into the depths of the soul and play the music most comforting to the guest," Nameless explained. "It has been over…"

"It's been over two hundred or three hundred since he put that blindfold on," Irene interrupted. "Don't bother listening to him when he tries to say how many days it's been since something."

Nameless looked offended by Irene's comment but continued playing the piano. I wondered if this young-looking man really was over two-hundred years old.

My eyes moved away from Nameless and fell on the beautiful woman singing to his music. Belladonna must've been her name since Nameless mentioned the two of them being happy to have a big enough space to play. Belladonna was still covering her ears with her hands while she sung.

I saw Belladonna glance at me but quickly went back to focusing on her singing.

"Belladonna is the only one capable of singing to my music," Nameless said. "Much like myself, she covers her ears so she can hear the melody of our guest's soul and sing to comfort their minds."

"She won't speak to you unless it's in song," Irene added.

"But she can hear the confusion that I can see you have in your soul and is singing to have you as relaxed as possible while you stay in the Velvet Room," Nameless said.

So that's why I feel so calm while I was in the Velvet Room. Nameless and Belladonna were playing music that had a relaxing effect on me. I felt a little grateful to the two for taking away the stress I had built up over the last two days.

I felt the little girl tug on my sleeve and looked down at Irene.

"You must have a lot of questions by now," Irene said looking up at me. "Every guest that has come here were flooded with questions like you are now. I heard about their situations from Nameless, Belladonna, and my siblings. None of them had it easy with what problems fell on them. Stopping a man from destroying reality, finding one's self in a city where rumors came to life, preventing the death of all humanity during the hidden hour, and walking through a fog of lies to find the truth. None of their problems were easily solved and they each felt the weight of their situations."

The little girl was more mature than I thought she was. Her expression on her face wasn't one that belonged on a child.

Nameless spoke while giving me another small smile. "The purpose of Belladonna and I is to take that weight off your shoulders during your time inside the Velvet Room. You do not need worry about the dangers in the Real World while inside this room. Time has no hold upon the servants of this room; you may stay as long as you need to. Belladonna and I will welcome having an audience."

"It'll be nice to talk to someone other than Igor and Nameless," Irene said smiling. "Maybe you can take me out to the Real World sometimes?"

Nameless and Irene were both smiling at me and glancing at the singing Belladonna, she too had a smile while she sung. These three were willing to help me with my problems in any way they could.

"I guess I can visit every now and then," I told them.

I felt a bond forming between myself and the three residents of the Velvet Room.

_I am thou… and thou art I…_

_Thou hast established a new bond…_

_It brings thee closer to a new life…_

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Temperance Arcana…_

"Oh, you got a new Social Link!" Irene yelled looking at the open tome-like book that somehow appeared in her hands.

I watched her hands flip through the first three pages of the book. Each page had a picture along with a tarot card next to the picture. The Fool Arcana had a picture of Yosuke and I shaking hands, the Magician Arcana had a picture of Yosuke carrying me up the path towards my house, the Death Arcana had a picture of me holding Santou's phone while he listened on his bed, and the newly made Temperance Arcana had a picture of me standing in front of Irene, Nameless, and Belladonna in the Velvet Room. The page with the Temperance Arcana was still glowing, as if whatever created the page left behind some of the energy that went into making it.

"Does that thing take a picture of me whenever I make these 'Social Links'?" I asked.

"The pictures come from your soul or at least how you picture the situation," Irene answered.

"You know, I made four of these Social Links in the last two days," I said. "Just how many do I have to make?"

"There are twenty-two Arcana in all," Irene answered. She laughed when she figured how much I had left. "So you have about eighteen left to make!"

"That's a lot," I sighed.

"Keep doing what you do every day, Kimi Amaya, and the people who will bond with you will come," Nameless told me.

"Before you know it, all your troubles will disappear…" Belladonna sung.

I was a little surprised to hear Belladonna speak to me, even though it was still her singing.

A loud bell rung throughout the whole room and signaled the end of my time in the Velvet Room. My vision of the Velvet Room was disappearing in a flash of light.

"Damn, looks like you're waking up," Irene said.

The little girl grabbed my hand and slapped something into my palm.

"Use this key whenever you want to visit," Irene said while the room disappeared from my sight.

Before I woke up, Irene yelled one last time.

"And you better visit!" She yelled.

* * *

><p>I woke up on my futon, feeling somewhat refreshed. The stress I felt when I went to sleep was no longer as great. Nameless and Belladonna's music gave me the relaxation I needed while I was in the Velvet Room. I wasn't sure if I could help Chikako if she called the Nostalgia Line and I felt the weight of that responsibility. Having that weight taken off my shoulders, at least for a while, was enough for me to rethink my situation. If Chikako does call the Nostalgia Line, then all I have to do is enter that tunnel Yosuke found and enter the world created from her memories. If Poseidon is there again, my only option would be to escape with Chikako.<p>

With my stress feeling lighter, I felt ready to try and convince Chikako to not call the Nostalgia Line when I meet her at the Occult Club.

That is, unless she hadn't already called the number…

...

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Chapter's shorter than the others, just so you know.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Beautiful Misery

I dragged my feet across the shiny tile floor of the school while wiping the sweat off my forehead with the sleeve of my uniform. Again I had to face the torture of the sunlight blazing down on me. My skin still wasn't showing any sign of tanning so I guess I just didn't have enough melanin in my skin for tanning. If the school code didn't say I had to wear my uniform's blazer, then I would have taken off that piece of clothing hours ago. At least I found Chikako didn't call the Nostalgia Line when I saw her sitting at her desk in the front of the class. Knowing that was enough for me to forget, or at least take my mind off, about how I was cooking during class.

It was bit hard at first to find the Occult club's classroom but after asking a teacher, I managed to get the location. The strange thing, though, is that none of the students I asked knew this school had an Occult Club and I couldn't find Chikako after class. Even the teacher I asked only had a vague idea about the club. He had to check the school's database for the classroom. It took me a while to find the classroom in the school's second wing.

Finding the classroom was the easy part; now it's time to try and convince Chikako not to call the Nostalgia Line.

I took in a deep breath and turned the door's handle, taking my first step into the Occult Club's room.

"Welcome to the Occult Club!" Chikako yelled shoving a plate of steaming tea cups into my chest… and spilling it all on my blazer.

I gritted my teeth and clutched my fists while the scalding hot tea seeped into my blazer and through my shirt, burning my skin underneath. Why must I go through so many situations where I'm burned by something?

"I'm so sorry!" Chikako said turning around only to turn back to me. Her expression told me she was panicking and trying to find out what she should do.

I took off my blazer, letting my upper body bask in the cool air. "It's alright," I told her. "It wasn't that hot…"

It was boiling water, I'm sure of it.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated. "It's just that nobody comes in here and I was so excited at the possibility of having a new member…"

Chikako looked at my face and recognized me in an instant.

"Amaya-san! You actually came!" she yelled in excitement. "Are you thinking about joining the Occult Club?"

Chikako led me inside the club's room. The room wasn't that large and every inch of wall was covered by a bookcase with a circular table in the middle taking up the rest. Someone with claustrophobia would feel very uncomfortable in this room with how cramped it was. I sat down at the table while Chikako sat in the chair next to me.

"I don't know," I answered. I didn't plan on joining a club so soon since club recruitment doesn't happen until next week and I was thinking more along the lines of a club where I don't actually have to do anything.

"The Occult Club only needs two more members so it can stay, Amaya-san," Chikako told me. "The school is going to throw away all the research I built up since I started last year unless I can get two more members to join. I'm not pressuring you or anything but I would really appreciate it if you just say you joined the club. You don't have to come here if you don't want to, I'll still tell the teachers that you are coming…"

I had a feeling that Chikako could read my mind but I quickly discarded that feeling.

"If I did join, I wouldn't do that, Kimura-san," I said. "But I can't decide if I want to join yet."

Chikako looked a little depressed after hearing what I said. "Then why did you come here?" she asked the excitement gone from her voice. She went back to that mature look she had when I first met her but I knew it was her way to deal with disappointment.

"I just need a little information on something," I answered.

Chikako sighed. "Go ahead, ask away. I have almost every single piece of rumors of the Occult for the last year stored in this classroom."

Okay, got to ask her about it now. "Do you know anything about a Nostalgia Line?" I asked.

The effect was instant; mentioning the Nostalgia Line was enough for Chikako to be interested.

"There's not much information except for the fact that it appeared three months ago and only the residents of Umizuo are receiving the text," Chikako explained. "It says using the program will allow the owner to relive his happiest memories but whether it's a hoax isn't proven yet. Most people who have gotten the text either dismiss it as spam or ignore it all together…"

Chikako smiled while she took out a thin and small laptop from her bag. "I went deeper into the mystery and found out some lesser known information," Chikako said. "Like how almost ninety percent of the recent amnesia cases involved a phone that had everything erased in it except for the Nostalgia Line program. The police suspect that it might be the reason behind the amnesia but there isn't much evidences beyond the fact the phones. They tried to trace the location of the sender but each text is sent from a different phone at a different location. There have been a lot of investigation into these texts but nothing had come up, making the Nostalgia Line even…"

Chikako narrowed her eyes as she turned her head back to me. "Why do you want to know about the Nostalgia Line?" she asked obviously suspecting my reasons.

"I got one of those Nostalgia Line texts and I wanted to know if what it says is true," I answered. It wasn't the truth but it wasn't a lie either.

Again I had something that excited Chikako. "When did you receive the text? Did you receive it recently and did you call the number in the text? If you did, what happened? Tell it with as much explanation as you can!" She said looking like she demanded the answer.

I couldn't outright tell her about how if you call the number in text, you'll be sent to a world shaped around your worst memories while having a god of the sea trying to kill you with a demon. Normal people wouldn't believe such an outrageous fact, even if that person happens to be the only member of the Occult club. Being the only member told me that she had a strong belief in the paranormal but if I had told her what would happen, she would only take it as me making fun of her. She would definitely ask me to leave then and any chance of preventing her from calling the Nostalgia Line would be left to chance.

"I don't know," I answered. "I tripped afterwards and my phone fell in front of my guardian's van. It got crushed underneath the wheels and I can't check it out since it's broken…"

Okay, that was more of a lie but the part about my phone being broken was true. It was broken, however, because I threw it at the wall and not because it got run over.

But it seemed Chikako bought it. She sighed as she pulled out her phone. "That's too bad," Chikako sighed. "Thought I might get some more information on this thing before I called the number…"

"Don't call it!" I yelled without thinking.

That was a bad idea. Chikako now looked at me with even more suspicion than before.

"Okay, you know something about this Nostalgia Line that you're not telling me," Chikako said pointing at me with a single finger.

"I'm not lying; I don't anything about it…"

"Listen, I'll forget about the lies if you just tell what you know about the Nostalgia Line," Chikako said trying to intimidate me with that serious look in her eyes and her more mature tone of voice. "You know something about the Nostalgia Line that I don't and I want you to tell me everything or else this conversation is over…"

I was afraid this would happen but telling her the truth now would only end badly on my side.

"I don't know…"

"Get out," Chikako interrupted. "If you aren't willing to tell me, then I don't want to waste my time hearing your lies. Don't bother to come back, even if you want to join the Occult Club."

"I don't want liars in my club." Chikako got up and left the room, leaving me alone in the room to feel the failure of my plan.

For a second, I was feeling all my negative emotions boiling up. I felt that Chikako was a horrible person that deserved to have her memories erased but I quickly dismissed that thought. It wasn't her fault but mine. I was lying to her and Chikako must hate liars for some reason. If I hadn't blurted out my reason for coming, Chikako might have decided to not call the Nostalgia Line.

Chikako must hate me by now, meaning I would have to put my hopes on the chance she doesn't call the Nostalgia Line.

But that's when I thought of another way I could stop her from calling…

…

I followed Chikako through the hallways of the school, watching her as she took notes about certain paranormal rumors around the school. My plan was to follow Chikako around the school and to her house and make sure she doesn't call the Nostalgia Line. It was a stupid plan when I thought about it some more. I couldn't follow her inside her home and anyone seeing me following her might think I'm a stalker and get the wrong ideas. It was a stupid idea but it was all I could do at the moment.

I watched Chikako sigh over and over again. Her expression looked like she was feeling bad, most likely because of what she said to me. I felt a little happy that she was feeling guilty but again I dismissed my feelings. I did my best to hide from her sight while she walked through the school's hallways.

My following lasted until Chikako went to the shoe lockers to her locker, taking off her current shoes and replacing them with the pair inside the locker. It was a common sight but Chikako wincing in pain wasn't common. I leaned to the side to get a better view, Chikako's attention currently on her shoes. What I saw wasn't something I expected to be done to someone like Chikako.

Chikako gritted her teeth while she tilted her shoe to the side, a handful of tacks falling out of her shoe. A few were bloody and when I looked down at her foot, a red stain was appearing at the base of her sock.

"Not again," Chikako whispered.

This happened before? Did someone have a grudge against her or something?

Chikako's expression already looked bad before but after feeling the tacks in her shoes, her expression got even worse. She looked to be on the verge of tears while she pulled some of tacks that had pierced the sole of her shoe out. When she had replaced her shoes with the tack-removed shoes in the locker, she hurried out of the front doors. I followed behind, watching her walk to the school gate…

Only to watch her get struck in the side by a soccer ball.

I flung the front doors open in an instant and ran over to Chikako, who had fallen on her side and was holding the side where the ball had hit. The pair of girls that were kicking the soccer ball around was staring at the fallen Chikako, not even bothering to apologize for hitting her. Looking at their expressions, the ball must've struck her on purpose. They might've even been waiting for Chikako to come out just to do this to her.

I tried grabbing Chikako's hand and help her but my hand was smacked away. For a second, I saw Chikako staring at me with tears trickling down her cheeks before she got to her feet and ran away.

"Wait, Kimura-san!" I yelled getting ready to run after Chikako.

"She's helping that bitch?" I heard one of the girl's say before I ran.

"Doesn't she know who she is?" the other girl said when I began running.

I didn't care what the two were saying while I ran after Chikako. What I cared about is how sad she looked during that second she smacked my hand away. She was bullied at the school and it was for some reason I didn't know yet. The reason wasn't important but it was dangerous for Chikako to be this unstable at the moment. She might call the Nostalgia Line without thinking about the consequences.

I ran after the girl but she disappeared from my sight after a few turns. I didn't bother watching the road while I searched for Chikako. I almost got ran over more than once but my body kept moving to look for that girl. I ran through an alley way behind a store until I heard Chikako's voice from the other side of the fence.

"Will this really work?" Chikako's voice said. She was talking to herself and I was sure she was staring at the Nostalgia Line text, wondering if she should call or not.

"Don't call it, Chikako!" I screamed while climbing the fence.

I jumped over the top of the fence and landed on my feet on the other side, a shock shooting up my leg when my feet landed. I ignored the pain in my legs while I looked around, seeing Chikako leaning against an old telephone pole. She was crying when she turned to see me sprinting to her side, her phone in her hand. I swiped the phone out of her hand the moment stopped in front of her.

"What are you doing here, Amaya-san?" Chikako asked staring at me with a confused expression.

"I'm stopping you from…"

One single horrifying sound interrupted and silenced me.

The sound of a cassette being rewound coming out of the phone's speaker.

"You called the Nostalgia Line…" I whispered falling to my knees while the sound of a cassette rewinding kept coming from the phone.

"Amaya-san, you're making it sound like something bad is going to happen," Chikako said staring down at me.

Chikako kept talking but I wasn't listening; only the sound of that cassette rewinding got to my ears. Maybe since I'm the one holding the phone, like the time I called the Nostalgia Line with Santou's phone, we'll be safe. That was my only hope while I listened to the sound, waiting for it to stop and start playing.

But the sound of the cassette stopping didn't happen; instead a much more horrible sound came out of the phone. The sound of the tape in the cassette being pulled out forcibly was getting louder and louder from the phone's speaker. Then whoever was pulling out the tape got impatient and simply crushed the cassette. I threw the phone at the ground the moment that sound came out.

"What's happening, Amaya-san?" Chikako yelled taking a step away from her phone.

"I KNEW YOU WOULD COME BACK, KIMI AMAYA!" Poseidon's voice screamed from the phone.

Black tendrils blasted out of Chikako's phone and before we could react, wrapped themselves around our wrists and ankles. Chikako screamed while I tried ripping the tendrils off my wrists. The disgusting things felt tightly wound ropes and if I touched them, another tendril would simply whip my hand away before wrapping around another part of my body. The tendrils held us in place while something else came out of the phone.

"YOU AREN'T ESCAPING THIS TIME!" Poseidon screamed while two black hands shot out of the phone's screen and grabbed our heads.

In a moment, Chikako and I were pulled into that black ocean that the tendrils and hands came from.

…..

I was disoriented while I came back to consciousness, my body lying against a cold and white floor. I pulled myself up onto my feet and forced myself to stand while I looked at my surroundings. Chikako wasn't around, that much I could see, but everything else was dark and my eyes could only see the outline of what was around me. I felt blind while I held my hand in front of me, trying to feel anything that I can hold onto for support.

My hand touched something when I heard the sound of a movie projector turning on. My eyes were blinded when the light of the movie projector set up against the wall flashed on me. I shut my eyes quickly while I hurried out of the projector's light.

"It's all her fault she hung herself," a man's voice said from a pair of speakers in the corner of the room.

"Why is she staying in our town? We don't need someone as evil as her!" A female's voice this time yelled.

"Why did my daughter have to die?" A louder and older female's voice screamed, forcing me to place my hands over my ears. "Why are you still alive and my daughter's dead?"

"It's all your fault!"

"This happened because you lied to her!"

Several voices were screaming the same thing over and over. They were condemning someone and saying it was their fault. It was no question to me who they were talking about.

My eyes got used to the sudden light and I squinted while I looked around.

I seemed to be inside a movie theater, standing in the path between the rows of leather-covered seats. Most of the seats were empty except for a single one in the middle of the theater. The single seat was occupied by a crying Chikako, who was screaming at the voices that were condemning her. She was screaming while trying to get out of the steel bands that trapped her hands and feet to the seat.

"Why can't you people stop?" Chikako screamed while she tried pulling her hands out of the steel bands. "Can't you see I regret everything I did? What I did was horrible but that doesn't give you the right to say those mean things to me!"

"Hurry up and go to Hell, you BITCH!" Every voice screamed at Chikako.

Chikako screamed at the voices again but they kept screaming back at her, their responses becoming darker the more the girl screamed back.

I didn't know what they were talking about but I didn't care. I hurried to Chikako and got there before she might consider removing her hands and feet just to get away from these condemning voices.

"Amaya-san?" Chikako said seeing me appear in front of her.

My hands tried to get her hands out of the bands while I spoke. "I was trying to stop this from happening, Kimura-san," I told her.

"What the hell is this place?" Chikako said while still crying.

"All I know is that this place is where you go if you call the Nostalgia Line," I answered. "It's made from your worst memories and is controlled by the Greek God Poseidon and a demon created from the cause of your worst memory."

"How is that possible?" Chikako asked. "How the hell is this happening and why is it happening to me…"

"Hello, hello, Chikako Kimura, it's your friend Shizuka Nayagi," a girl's voice said from the speakers. The other voices stopped the moment the girl's voice spoke.

Chikako screamed when she looked up at the large screen behind me. I turned around to see what the projector was projecting on the massive screen.

The image of a middle school girl in her uniform was taking the whole screen. The girl was smiling and waving her hand at Chikako, as if she knew that she was watching. The girl looked like the shy type, with long black hair that covered her face and having a short stature. Despite looking like a shy girl, she kept waving at Chikako with a happy expression. I couldn't tell where she was because she took up the whole screen standing so close to the camera.

"I'm so happy I can see the most beautiful girl in the world again," the girl Shizuka said moving her face closer to the camera. "I'm still nowhere near as pretty as you are, Chikako, but you said you'll make me pretty, didn't you? You were going to make me as beautiful as you, didn't you promise me you would? I don't mind waiting for my makeover, Chikako, as long as I get to be as beautiful as you. I'll do anything for you, Chikako, as long as you make me pretty…"

The girl Shizuka kept smiling while her hands picked something off the floor. Chikako cried louder and I couldn't help but feel a shiver up my spine when we saw what she picked up.

Shizuka kept smiling while she tied a noose around her neck with the rope she picked up off the ground. "But I can never as pretty as you, can I, Chikako?" She said tying the rope to a hook in the ceiling. "That's why I have to do this, Chikako, because I can never be as beautiful as you. Every guy liked you and never looked at me. I thought I could catch the eye of the guy I liked when you gave me a makeover but you reminded me that I'll always be ugly…"

Chikako and I watched in horror while Shizuka stepped onto a chair and kept smiling at us.

"This world would be better off without an ugly person like me," Shizuka said smiling as she kicked the chair under her feet away.

Chikako screamed while I turned my head away. We could still hear the sound of the noose tightening around Shizuka's neck until the projector turned off and we were left in the darkness again.

"I'm sorry, Shizuka!" Chikako screamed at the screen. "I wouldn't have said what I said if I knew this was going to happen!"

"I don't want your apology…"

I jumped when I heard Shizuka's voice in front of us. The lights in the theater sprung to life and illuminated the whole room. With the lights on, Chikako and I could see the girl Shizuka standing in front of Chikako, the noose still tied tightly around her neck.

Shizuka grinned while she leaned closer to Chikako.

Chikako kept trying to get out of her seat, watching Shizuka lean closer to her.

"Tell me, Chikako," Shizuka said grinning even wider.

Then the terrifying part happened, Shizuka's grin got even wider. Her cheeks cracked while her grin got wider than her whole face. Shizuka flicked her hair out of her face, letting Chikako and I see the hideously and terrifyingly wide grin she had on her face.

Shizuka shoved her thumbs into Chikako's mouth and stretched her mouth like a child would, except what she was going to do was far more terrifying.

Shizuka screamed at the top of her lungs while grinning even wider.

"AM I BEAUTIFUL NOW, CHIKAKO!"

...

Author's Note: Happy New Year's, readers.


	7. Chapter 7: Hideous Guilt

My first response to the situation was to kick the demon in the side. That response might have worked in the real world but since this was a demon I was kicking, it felt like I had kicked a brick wall.

My kick, however, had the effect I was wanting. Shizuka took her thumbs out of Chikako's mouth and turned to me.

"Who are you? It's only supposed to be me and Chikako here," Shizuka said taking steps towards me. Her cheeks cracked further, widening her hideous grin. "No matter, I'll get rid of you so Chikako and I can have some time alone…"

"Persona!" I yelled as blue aura flashed around me.

My Persona Ran appeared behind me in an instant. Ran tackled into Shizuka and grabbed her arm, flinging her across the room an instant later. The demon crashed through rows of chairs until she smashed into the red curtained wall.

My attention quickly went to Chikako. The girl looked ready to faint and after seeing this world and my Persona, I wouldn't blame her if she did.

I spoke while Ran ripped off the steel bands trapping Chikako. "There isn't enough time for me to explain," I told her.

"Shizuka's behind you!" Chikako yelled pointing behind me.

I spun around by reflex and was surprised to see the demon Shizuka standing there, still grinning. I was surprised to see her behind me but I was more surprised by how quickly she got there despite being on the other side of the room. This demon may look like a twisted middle school girl but her speed was just as insane as she was.

Shizuka chuckled as she opened her wide mouth. She had teeth but other than that there was nothing other than a deep darkness.

"Garula!" Shizuka screamed.

Ran jumped in front of us while a blast of concentrated air shot out of Shizuka's open mouth. Ran was hit by the blast at close-range and I felt every bit of damage done to her. My body felt like someone took a hammer and swung it at every inch of my body. Ran flew across the room and I ignored the throbbing pain in my body as I grabbed Chikako's hand.

"I'm not letting you take Chikako!" Shizuka screamed.

She threw her hands out to grab me but Ran felt what I wanted her to do and blasted her with the Bufu spell, freezing her where she stood. The ice, however, was quick to crack and I knew it wasn't going to hold her for more than a few seconds. I took the time given to me to run with Chikako to the theater's exit. Shizuka shattered the ice trapping her and screamed while we exited the theater, Ran hurrying to my back while I looked around for something to bar the door. Ran, however, swung her arms at the doors and flooded them with a massive wave of water. She then froze the water in an instant with the Bufu spell, creating a thick wall of ice preventing Shizuka from exiting the theater, at least for a while. It gave us time to look around for our exit. Ran disappeared while we looked around.

Chikako was silent as we walked into the theater's lobby. The lobby was twisted in appearance, having a checker-patterned on just everything in the room. Other than the checker patterns, everything else in the lobby looked the same as any theater lobby I've been to. One thing that stood out though, was the ticket booth placed next to theater's exits. Instead of facing the outside, the ticket booth's window was facing the inside of the theater. There was a person standing inside the booth and I knew who it was the moment I saw that ocean-themed suit.

Poseidon grinned while he leaned against the booth's glass, his trident in between his crossed arms.

"It's so nice to see you again, Kimi Amaya," he said through the booth's microphone, making his voice louder than it should be. "I knew you would the type of idiot who couldn't keep her nose out of our business. That man last time surprised me but this time, I made sure no one could ever enter or exit our little realm…"

Poseidon gestured towards the theater's exit and I noticed that on the other side of the door were several thick chains that surrounded the doors. Unless Yosuke was carrying a powerful blowtorch with him and we had more time, we couldn't leave and the chances of outside help were none. Poseidon chuckled, knowing that I had no way of escaping this time around.

"Having you unable to escape is great and all but it really takes a toll on my restricted powers to block off all exits and entrances to Persona-users," Poseidon told me. "I'm stuck in here with nothing to do but watch my beautiful Kuchisake-Onna tear your friends cheeks open."

"You mean Shizuka?" I asked.

"I don't know who this Shizuka is but her demon created from her worst memories is the Kuchisake-Onna," the god answered. "Just like the Gashadokuro was created from the memories inside that head of yours. This demon was created to devour her memories, most likely killing her in the process, and that's what it is going to do."

Poseidon might not know but he had just told me that these demons aren't out to kill their creators but to devour their memories. It was a piece of information that didn't help our situation but did answer a few questions for me…

Poseidon chuckled again. "But don't worry, Kimi Amaya, the Kuchisake-Onna won't kill you unless you provoke her," he said. "I'd say there's no way out but since I'm a nice guy most of the time, how about I offer you a deal? I let this girl leave alive, without her memories, and you give me your heart. Great deal, right?"

"That's a horrible deal!" I yelled back at him. "Even if I don't except, you'll still take Chikako's memories and my heart!"

"And here I thought I could end this quickly," he sighed. "Oh well, have fun trying to escape the Kuchisake-Onna."

With that said, the inside of the ticket booth became black and we couldn't see the god anymore.

"That was a god?" Chikako asked. "He didn't seem very… godly."

"He controls this world, Kimura-san, and he almost killed me the last time I was here. He's really powerful," I told her.

Shizuka's screams from behind the ice wall got louder and if I focused, I could hear what she was screaming. It was mostly screaming at Chikako to answer her question whether she was beautiful or not. I remembered that Poseidon called Shizuka a Kuchisake-Onna, the name of a demon in a well-known story in Japan. Most of the details escaped me but what I did remember was what would happen if Chikako had answered Shizuka's question. Answering the Kuchisake-Onna's question had dangerous consequences if you answered either yes or no.

The Kuchisake-Onna had a tendency to slit open the cheeks of anyone who answers her question, forcing them to have the same hideously wide grin as they did.

The ice wall stood while Shizuka banged harder against the wall.

"Let's go look for another exit," I said grabbing Chikako's hand.

She was hesitant to follow but she knew that I was the only one who could protect us until we found an exit. The loud cracking of the ice wall, however, made her hurry to run with me. We looked around the lobby until we found the door to a stairwell. Without thinking, we ascended up to the second floor while Shizuka's screams got louder. The second floor was a short hallway with only one door at the end.

"This looks like a dead-" Chikako said before letting out a scream.

"What's wrong?" I yelled looking around but not seeing the demon.

"I stepped on something!" Chikako answered pointing in front of her foot.

I looked down and to my surprise, something small was where she pointed. It came out of the floor like some kind of viscous liquid but it was entirely black and moving as if it had a mind of its own. The thing let out some kind of terrified cry while it tried to get away from us. Whatever this thing was, Chikako was freaked by it. She screamed again and begun stomping the creature until it stopped moving and sunk back into the checker-patterned floor.

"What the hell was that thing?" Chikako yelled.

"I don't know," I answered.

Until another glob of whatever that thing was fell on my shoulder. A shiver went up my spine as I turned my head to the viscous glob. A sad blue mask came out of the glob and I felt like it was staring at me through those tiny eyeholes in the mask. I didn't scream like Chikako but my response was pretty much the same. I bashed the tiny thing with my fist until it let out a tiny cry and fell to the floor.

"Those things are everywhere!" Chikako yelled looking around.

Chikako and I ran past the black creatures, knowing our only choice was to run into the room since Shizuka was at the bottom of the stairs. We shut the door behind us and locked it. We both caught our breath as we looked at the room we were trapped in.

We had trapped ourselves in the projector room. The wide room had shelves of movie films placed against the walls and a single projector playing in the middle of the room. The movie in the theater we were just in was playing and the voices coming out of the speakers were louder than the film in the projector. The color in Chikako's face drained as we heard her voice speaking from the speakers.

"That Shizuka is so easy to manipulate," Chikako's voice laughed. Her voice has a sort of haughtiness that she didn't speak with now. Her voice also sounded a bit higher so I guess it must've been her younger self. "All I got to do is say I'll make her beautiful and she does whatever I say."

Tears welled up in Chikako's eyes as more voices joined.

"Sounds like you got a loyal slave, Kimura," a girl's voice said.

"You don't know how dedicated this girl is," Chikako's voice laughed. "She's pays for my things and since her family is in charge of the local theater, I get to watch movies for free. Sometimes I even get to watch the movie a day before it's released…"

"Shut up," Chikako whispered tears trickling down her cheeks.

But Chikako's younger self continued talking. "That girl gets perfect scores on the tests but she's so stupid to not know I'm only using her!" Chikako cackled. "She's so stupid for thinking that I can turn that ugly face of hers into something bearable!"

Chikako's laughing continued while the Chikako next to me screamed, trying to drown out the laugh of her younger self. It felt like the speakers were turning up the volume because no matter how loud Chikako screamed, the speakers could still be heard clearly over them.

Chikako's younger self stopped laughing and for a second, I wondered why. The Chikako next to me knew and cried even louder as Shizuka's voice came out of the speakers.

"You were lying?" Shizuka's heartbroken voice said. Her voice seemed to echo throughout the whole building, making Chikako cry even harder.

The sounds of Shizuka crying and running away came out of the speaker while whoever was with Chikako were speaking in haste.

"This is bad!" a girl's voice yelled. "What if she does something to herself? It'll be your fault, Chikako!"

"I didn't… I mean…" Chikako's younger self tried to speak but couldn't spit out more than two words.

"Shizuka locked herself in her room for the next week until she was found hanging from a noose…" a voice from inside the projector room said.

"She killed herself because you lied to her…" another voice said.

"You took a family's only daughter from them…"

"AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" the voices screamed.

Every case of film in the room began to shake violently while the voice continued to scream at Chikako. She fell to the ground and covered her ears, trying to scream over the voices with no success. She was falling apart in front of me while I couldn't do anything about it. She wouldn't be able to hear my voice over the others.

Whatever those globs of black were, they were starting to come into the room in large masses. The globs fell onto the cases of film and they exploded, the film forming a human-shaped being made from movie film. Red masks appeared on the film creature's faces and every one of them was staring at Chikako. The creatures then charged towards the crying girl.

"Persona!" I yelled.

Ran appeared in a flash of blue aura and tackled the horde of film creatures trying to throw themselves upon Chikako. My Persona, however, was having a hard time holding the creatures back. I could feel the strain Ran was feeling in my whole body and that she was becoming weaker with every passing minute. The film creatures were striking my Persona with their fists and I could feel their punches wherever they struck.

A film creature caught me by surprise, coming from behind and embracing me with its arm. I struggled, kicking it and throwing my weight around, but the creature was far stronger than me. Ran tried to help me but the moment she tried, the film creatures overwhelmed her. They piled on top of her and pinned her to the ground. It took most of the creatures but Ran was successfully pinned and unable to fight back.

A single creature unlocked the door and the Kuchisake-Onna Shizuka walked in, her cheeks cracking even further to allow her grin to widen.

"Finally we get some time together, Chikako," Shizuka chuckled as she moved closer to the still sobbing girl on the floor.

The demon grabbed Chikako by her hair and pulled her up off the ground. Chikako gritted her teeth in pain as she hung an inch from the ground by her hair. The demon chuckled as she lifted Chikako higher in the air.

"Let her go!" I screamed trying to tear the film creature's arm off of me.

"Oh, it's so sweet that you care for this horrible person," Shizuka chuckled turning her face to me. "Don't you know what she did to me by now? I was so depressed when I found out she was only using me. I couldn't even get out of bed till I decided to hang myself. Are you really sure you're going to defend this bitch?"

Chikako cried louder. "Please forgive me, Shizuka," she cried.

Shizuka turned back to her victim. "Oh, listen to her cry," Shizuka said shivering from pleasure. "She's acting like she's feeling guilt over killing me. Isn't this nice, Chikako? Our roles have switched, now you're the girl wanting something and I'm the one not giving it to you!"

Chikako continued to cry while Shizuka shook from the pleasure of watching her.

"I'll be better than the horrible person you were, Chikako, and actually give you a chance," Shizuka said. "If you answer my question, then I'll forgive you for killing me…"

I struggled harder to free myself from the creature. Chikako was going to answer her question and since Shizuka was the Kuchisake-Onna, it was only going to end with her slicing Chikako's cheeks open. I wasn't going to let that happen. The creatures, however, were too strong and they kept my Persona pinned to the ground.

"Don't answer her question, Chikako!" I yelled.

Shizuka dropped Chikako, a film creature wrapping its arms around her before she could run, and the demon turned to me. She was still grinning but her eyes told me she was annoyed.

"I am sick of you trying to get in between us," Shizuka said. "Chikako is a repulsive person who deserves everything that's happening to her in this place. You didn't even know her for longer than a few days! I know everything there is about Chikako Kimura! She's the type of person who uses people for her own comfort! I died because she used me as her personal slave! How do you know she's not using you just so she can live?"

"I'm not using anybody," Chikako cried.

Shizuka laughed at her cry. "Oh listen to her, she said she's not using you," the demon laughed. "She believes she's a different person…"

The demon was a blur as she spun around, punching Chikako in her gut. Chikako coughed violently while the demon cackled at her pain.

"You are never going to change who you are!" Shizuka screamed in her face. "You will always be the girl who killed me! That past will always come back to torture you! You can keep trying to change into a better person but I know that it's all an act! That manipulative bitch who killed me will always be you!"

Chikako was breaking and the demon reveled in her pain.

"But I'll make it all disappear, Chikako," Shizuka whispered in a kind voice. The demon placed her hands on Chikako's head and spoke again. "You done so much to me but I'll still give you this comfort. I'm beautiful now that I've been reborn and I want to return the favor. You'll never feel the guilt of murdering me again…"

Shizuka's cheeks cracked as far as they could to widen her grin as she went on to devour Chikako's memories. The girl didn't resist anymore and was letting the demon take her memories. I couldn't do anything to stop it but that didn't mean I wasn't struggling. I was kicking the creature in its legs as hard I could and flailed my whole body around in the hopes the creature would lessen its grip. Ran was doing the same as me but she actually ripped a few film creatures apart, only for those creatures to be replaced by a few more.

"Huh?" Shizuka whispered still holding Chikako's head. "I… I can't take her memories!"

Both Chikako and I were surprised by her yell. Shizuka's purpose was to devour the memories Chikako had but for some reason, she couldn't. She wanted to know the answer just like I did but she seemed to find it much faster than I did since she turned back to me.

"You are doing something, aren't you?" Shizuka screamed at me. "I can't take my sweet Chikako's memories because of you! Well, this can be easily fixed…"

I felt the film creature's grip on me weaken, as if it was being affected by Shizuka's anger. If the creature holding me was weakened, then that means the creatures holding Ran down are weakened too.

Ran knew what she had to do.

My Persona gave a loud battle cry as she threw the mass of film creatures off her. Taking the small amount of time before the creatures threw themselves back on Ran, my Persona swung her arms in a circle. Torrents of salt water smashed into the film creatures and Shizuka. The film creatures were ripped apart by the water and exploded in a cloud of red and black smoke. Shizuka screamed as she was pushed out of the room by the wave of water. The film creature holding me had exploded like the rest, letting me run over to Chikako and hold unto to her so she doesn't get swept up by the water.

In less than a minute, every one of the creatures in the room exploded in the same cloud of red and black smoke. The projector room was drenched and so was Chikako and I. Ran had blocked the room's door with another wall of ice and we were safe until Shizuka broke through this wall like the other. While the demon struck the wall of ice over and over again, I checked Chikako for anything serious. Skipping over the broken expression she had, Chikako had no serious physical injuries.

"You can still run," I told her.

"I'm not going to run," she responded. "I deserve everything Shizuka is going to do to me…"

"Don't listen to what that demon says," I said grabbing her hand to help her to her feet.

Chikako, however, slapped my hand away. "Didn't you hear what I did to her?" Chikako cried holding her legs close to her chest. "I'm a horrible person, Amaya-san. There's nothing I can do to earn her forgiveness. It'll be better if I just let her kill…"

"I won't let her," I interrupted. "That demon will not take your memories or kill you. It'll never happen as long as I'm with you."

"But I'm…"

"If you want me to damn you as a horrible person later, that's fine but as long as we are in this world, I'll protect you until we both leave alive with all of our memories," I told Chikako. "But despite everything I learned about you in this world, I still don't believe you are so bad that you deserve this fate."

"It's my fault Shizuka killed herself," she cried. "She wants me to suffer-"

"That thing isn't Shizuka! It's a demon called the Kuchisake-Onna, a demon created from your memories of Shizuka!" I yelled at her. "The only reason it's condemning you is because you still believe that you deserve punishment! You still believe that you're the same Chikako who caused a girl's suicide!"

Chikako looked ready to cry again but I had to tell her or else we weren't going to live through this. She needed to deal with her past and be ready when that demon comes back.

"Tell me, Chikako, do you honestly believe that Shizuka's suicide didn't change you?"

My question did the trick. Chikako stared at me, her tears stopping. I could she was thinking hard about my question while we stared at each in this silent room…

Wait, why is it so quiet? Shouldn't that demon be banging against the ice blocking the door?

"Garula!" Shizuka's voice screamed.

"Chikako!"

Ran jumped in front of us while the wall facing the theater had exploded, sending chunks of debris at us. The damn demon was acting smart and decided to force her way in through the movie theater instead of taking her time breaking the ice wall. Chikako was left unharmed while I felt the pain my Persona was currently feeling. My back stung as if several pieces of rock were lodged in there, which might be true but I didn't want to look at Ran while she removed the debris. I was still feeling the pain of the demon's surprise attack while Ran flew out of the hole in the wall and into the theater.

"You aren't getting in my way again!" Shizuka screamed moving with that insane speed of hers. Ran tried to hit with the Bufu spell but she moved too fast. By the time she stopped, she had already run up the wall and into the destroyed projector room where Chikako and I were still recovering. Ran couldn't fire another spell when the chance of hitting us was present.

"Come back, Chikako," Shizuka said taking steps towards us. "Don't you want my forgiveness? Just tell me that I'm beautiful and I'll forgive everything."

I was afraid she might say that the demon was beautiful and have her cheeks slit open but Chikako reacted in the way I hoped she would. She stood on her feet and stared at the demon with determined eyes. She wiped the drying tears off her eyes and took a deep breath.

"You are the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life!" She yelled at the demon trying to look mature while she did.

If it was possible, Shizuka's grin got smaller. She stared at Chikako with a shocked look in her eyes. "I'm… what?"

"You heard me!" Chikako yelled back. "Amaya-san was right, you aren't Shizuka! You are just some ugly twisted version of her created from my memories! You could never be considered beautiful!"

I was shocked to see that just like me before, a blue flash of aura surrounded Chikako. She must have been feeling the same rising power in her body because she yelled louder and with more emotion.

"Everything about you is just wrong! Shizuka looks nothing like you! Shizuka could have been beautiful if only I helped her! I regret my choice to not help her every day but seeing your ugly face ruin her image, I'm not going to hold back! You are hideous and that's all you will ever be! Compared to you, even a person like me is still beautiful!"

The demon Kuchisake-Onna was struck silent by Chikako's answer. She shook more and more violently while grinding her teeth. Her fists clutched so tight that black blood was dripping out.

"I WON'T ACCEPT THAT ANSWER!" the Kuchisake-Onna screamed as loud as she could.

She leapt at Chikako, ready to rip her cheeks apart with her claw-like hands. "I'M BEAUTIFUL, YOU BITCH!"

The demon was ready to kill Chikako but she didn't get any closer to her. A golden hand appeared and slammed the Kuchisake-Onna's face into the floor.

"I am thou and thou art I," A woman's regal voice said.

Chikako and I were struck speechless by the appearance of the most beautiful sight we have ever seen. Standing behind Chikako was her Persona, a tall woman with a body sculpted entirely out of gold and precious gems. Her incredibly long and golden hair fell to the ground and shined brightly in the light. A silver mask hid the top half of her face but we could see her bright red lips smiling at us. Chikako's Persona was so radiant that the light coming from her seemed to illuminate the dark projector room. Electric sparks flew off her body while she placed her hands on Chikako's cheeks.

"I am Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty," the Persona told Chikako. "Let our enemies be smitten by our beauty and strength!"

The Kuchisake-Onna recovered quickly from Aphrodite's surprise attack and swung her hands at Chikako. Chikako's Persona, however, kicked the demon out of the huge hole in the wall. The demon smashed into the movie screen and fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"This is my Persona?" Chikako whispered in awe of Aphrodite. "It's just like yours, right Amaya-san?"

"It's different but they're both Personas," I answered. "It means you can help me defeat the Kuchisake-Onna."

The Kuchisake-Onna, however, wasn't going to go down easily. She screamed as she jumped back to her feet. She continued to scream while the globs of black from before began flinging themselves onto her body. The globs of black continued to pile on the demon while she screamed until they exploded in a cloud of red and black smoke. I had hoped it meant she died but when the cloud cleared, it only showed me that things got worse.

The Kuchisake-Onna was now far larger than she was before, being almost as tall as the movie screen behind her. Her arms and legs looked like someone had twisted them as far as they could while making sure they stayed arms and legs. Her huge school uniform was torn and hung loosely on her incredibly thin body. She no longer had a face too, only a wide grin on her twisted head. The demon screamed as long and dirty black hair fell to her waist.

"This is my beautiful true form, Chikako!" the Kuchisake-Onna screamed. "No more forgiveness, I will have my revenge on you for calling me ugly!"

"Looks like she's going to be stronger this time around," I said.

"I'm ready to fight," Chikako responded.


	8. Chapter 8: Embrace The Lovers

The Kuchisake-Onna may have been larger but she still had dangerous speed. She slapped my Persona faster than she could react, sending her crashing into the curtained wall. I cringed as I felt a whole half of my body flash with pain. The demon's change gave her a tremendous increase in strength. She may have looked sickly thin but she had enough power and speed to be more than a danger to us. Our Personas were the only reason the Kuchisake-Onna hadn't killed us yet.

"Can't you see my beauty, Chikako?" the demon screamed but still having that hideous grin on her twisted face. "I'm so beautiful and yet you called me ugly! I can't understand it! Don't you feel any regret for killing me?"

"Answer me, Chikako!" The demon screamed so loud that we both covered our ears by reflex.

I looked over at Chikako, who looked shaken by the demon's screams. Her Persona Aphrodite was staying out of the demon's range but didn't take a single shot at her. She remained in the air as if she was hesitating to attack the Kuchisake-Onna.

"She's only trying to confuse you," I told her.

"I know," Chikako answered. She tried to hide her feelings but I could see it clearly in her expression. The demon's words were getting to her but it wasn't enough to get rid of her determination to fight. She took a deep breath and swung her hand in front of her. "Aphrodite, use Zio!"

Electricity danced around Aphrodite's golden arms after Chikako gave her order. The Persona swung her arms at the demon, bolts of lightning firing from her hands. The bolts of lightning struck the demon in less than a second. The effects of the spell were greater than both of us had expected. The Kuchisake-Onna screamed in pain while millions of volts coursed through her twisted body. It was for only a few seconds but the shock seemed to do more damage than we thought. The demon was motionless for at least a few seconds.

That's when I noticed why the demon was rendered paralyzed by the spell.

"It's weak to electricity, Kimura-san!" I yelled.

That demon took too long to recover from the electric spell, meaning we had a chance of defeating the Kuchisake-Onna. Her greatest weapon was that insane speed of hers and because of it, none of my attacks could hit her. Now that I had Chikako to help me with her electricity spells, we could prevent the demon from moving and let Ran go all out on the Kuchisake-Onna.

Chikako knew what she had to do and her Persona did what she thought. Aphrodite fired several bolts of electricity at the demon.

"Not again!" the Kuchisake-Onna yelled jumping out of the electricity's path. The bolts struck the wall behind the demon, setting the curtains on fire. Ran swung her arms at the growing flames and put them out with a torrent of salt water.

The demon moved again, moving to the other side of the theater in less than a second. She was now standing in front of the projector room, staring at us through the hole she made. The Kuchisake-Onna grinned wider while Chikako and I stepped away from the hole in the wall.

The Kuchisake-Onna opened her mouth, showing us the deep darkness inside. "Garu-"

Ran stabbed the Kuchisake-Onna in the back with a spear made out of frozen water before the demon could blast us with her spell. The demon screamed as she threw her twisted arms at my Persona, who was holding onto the frozen spear in the Kuchisake-Onna's back as tight as she could with one hand. The demon's hands were only inches away from grabbing Ran but they couldn't reach her. While my Persona hung onto her spear with one hand, she used her other hand to fire her ice spells at the demon's back. Icicles stabbed into the demon, causing her to scream louder while she tried to grab Ran.

"This is your chance!" I yelled at Chikako.

The girl nods at me. Aphrodite quickly charged her golden arms with electricity, firing bolts at the demon.

The Kuchisake-Onna, however, spun around in an instant and opened her mouth. "Garula!" She screamed quickly.

The bolts of electricity were blasted apart by the ball of condensed air that shot out of the demon's mouth. The ball of condensed air then smashed into Aphrodite and exploded, sending the Persona crashing into the floor. Chikako screamed, feeling the same pain her Persona was experiencing.

The Kuchisake-Onna wasn't finished. She jumped backwards into the wall, shoving the ice farther into her back but also crushing my Persona in between. Cracking pains came from my body while my Persona was crushed by the ice and the demon. The Kuchisake-Onna pulled her body out of the wall, letting Ran fall to the floor with a shower of tiny icicles. I could feel that Ran was losing strength and fast. She wouldn't be able to survive if this fight went on.

"I'm the stronger one, Chikako!" the demon yelled stomping her way towards Aphrodite. The Kuchisake-Onna kicked the ground the Persona, sending Aphrodite flying across the room. The demon was a blur as her twisted fist smashed Aphrodite into the wall, causing Chikako to scream in pain. "I'm the more beautiful one but how dare someone as ugly as you call me ugly! I'll rip that face of yours apart!"

The Kuchisake-Onna pulled Aphrodite out of the wall and threw her into the ground with all her strength. Chikako fell to her knees, coughing a small amount of blood into the floor. Looking at my partner, she couldn't survive a prolonged fight either.

"Hold on, Kimura-san. I got a plan that'll get us out of this," I told Chikako even though I was feeling just as much pain as her.

"Aphrodite doesn't have much left, Amaya-san," Chikako said holding her shoulder.

"Just use your spells when I tell you to," I said.

Chikako nodded, turning her attention back to our Personas.

Ran got back to her feet and did what I wanted her to. She swung her arms at the Kuchisake-Onna, firing a torrent of water at the demon. The demon, however, jumped out of the way. The torrent of water followed after the demon but the Kuchisake-Onna kept her distance away from the water. My Persona fired several Bufu spells at her but the demon was too fast. She dodged each one of Ran's attacks.

But I was hoping she would dodge the attacks.

"Use Zio, Kimura-san!" I yelled.

Chikako nodded and her Persona fired bolts of electricity at the demon.

"I'm not letting that hit me," the Kuchisake-Onna chuckled as she ran away from the bolts of electricity.

But the moment she tried to run, she slipped on the ice my Persona had made with her previous attacks. The theater shook when the demon fell on her back. Before the Kuchisake-Onna could recover from slipping on the icy floor, Ran created another spear made out of ice.

"Skewer!" I yelled.

Ran threw her spear of ice down at the demon with all her strength. The spear pierced the Kuchisake-Onna neck and pinned her to the floor while Ran threw several Bufu spells at the spear. Ice spread out around the demon's neck, preventing her from moving. The Kuchisake-Onna screamed while her fist bashed on the ice surrounding her torso, shoulders, and neck. The ice cracked but it gave Chikako and me enough time to finish this fight.

Chikako and I both yelled our orders together.

"Skewer!"

"Zio!"

Ran created a massive spear made out of water and pierced the Kuchisake-Onna heart with it while Aphrodite fired bolts of electricity into the spear. The demon screamed while electricity coursed through her entire body. Cracking sounds filled the theater and looking closer at the demon, we saw cracks form everywhere on her body. The cracks grew more and more numerous until every inch of the demon's body was cracked.

The Kuchisake-Onna gave one last shrill scream before exploding into a cloud of red and black smoke.

The smoke filled the whole theater and projector room. We couldn't see anything for the few seconds the smoke filled the entire area. The smoke, however, disappeared just as fast as it appeared and we could see the pathetic figure on the floor of the theater. The demon was back into her smaller human form but her entire body was cracked. She looked like she would shatter with a little pressure.

While our Personas helped us descend to the demon, the voices from before started up again.

"It's your fault Shizuka died…"

"She killed herself because of you…"

"Just die…"

The voices were no longer shouting at Chikako, instead they spoke as if whoever was talking was close to dying and couldn't muster up the energy to yell. Seeing the Kuchisake-Onna cracking even more, I guess that might be true. She was no longer a threat and we knew that when we stood in front of the demon. The Kuchisake-Onna looked up at us, no longer having that grin because her entire face was covered in cracks. She stared at us, knowing she was defeated.

"Please… just call me beautiful, Chikako," the demon begged. Her face cracked more while she stared at us.

"I won't," Chikako answered. "You aren't beautiful and you never will be, not while you look like that."

The Kuchisake-Onna screamed, leaping at Chikako but she didn't have any strength. The demon pulled on the collar of her uniform, staring up at Chikako with a murderous stare.

"Stop acting like you're so much better than me!" the demon screamed at her. "You will never be any different, Chikako! You will always be the girl that killed me! You are the ugly one and you know it! I won't ever let you forget that past!"

"If she forgot her past, then she would still be the same person two years ago," I told the demon. "She's a better person because she remembers that past and chose to be a better person. You're a product of her memory, right? Shouldn't you already know this?"

"Amaya-san is right," Chikako said pulling the demon's hands off her collar. "I won't ever forget who I was but I chose to be a better person after what happened to Shizuka. It might take my whole life but I will work and work until the day Shizuka forgives me for what I did to her…"

The demon surprised us by giving Chikako a tiny smile.

"I already forgave you, Chikako," Shizuka whispered while her body glowed brightly… and then shattered into nothingness.

Chikako stared at the spot where Shizuka used to be. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. Tiny beads of light floated around the spot where Shizuka used to be and the light grew stronger while Chikako cried. The light got absorbed into the floor of the theater and sounds of construction filled the room. Before our very eyes, the entire theater was being rebuilt. The rows of seats destroyed in the fight were being bolted back to their places and having their material replaced. The hole in the wall where the projector room was got fixed in less than a few seconds. The movie screen was repaired and the damages done to the curtains were fixed. The light in the room dimmed and we heard the projector turn back on. Chikako and I turned our heads to the movie playing on the screen.

The movie started with Chikako crying on the roof, obviously from the bullying she received at the school. I thought this was going to be the same as the other movies but instead it turned out differently.

"You can't let them get to you," a man's voice said.

A male student the same age as Chikako appeared on the screen and stood over the crying girl. He was at least a foot taller than Chikako and had a business-like appearance despite being a student. His hand pushed his glasses up and flicked his brown hair out of his eyes before he continued talking.

"The gossip among others shouldn't affect you this much," he said.

Chikako wiped her tears. "Don't you know who I am?' she asked the student.

"Of course I do, Kimura-san," he answered. "As the student council President, it is my job to deal with the problems in the student body."

"So I'm a problem now," Chikako sighed. "Are you going to tell me to move out of Umizuo too?"

"I don't believe running from your problems is the solution," he told her.

Chikako sighed again as she stood up. "Then what am I supposed to do, President?' she asked scowling. "Let them bully me until I move?"

The student shook his head. "I believe you should work towards forgiveness, Kimura-san," the student answered. "I do not believe you are the same person a year ago. Those rumors about you are not true and anyone with a brain would see that. The question is… do you believe you deserve forgiveness? Are your sins so bad that you cannot forgive yourself?"

"If you don't remember, I called a girl ugly and she killed herself a week later," Chikako said tears trickling down her cheeks.

"And you have been punished for that," the student responded. "The suicide is a terrible story but I do not believe it is enough to damn you, Kimura-san. You can still atone for what you did!"

"Shut up!" Chikako screamed. "You don't know anything!"

Chikako ran away from the student and the movie ended. The lights turned back on and I looked at Chikako, who was still crying.

"Who was that?" I asked. I didn't recognize the student from our class so he had to be from one of the other second-year classes.

"Hiroki Tsubasa, the student council President," Chikako answered.

Another question came to my mind. "Was that your happiest memory?" I asked.

It didn't seem like it was since all it was about a student telling Chikako that she can atone for her sins. It wasn't exactly joyful either.

"Because of what Tsubasa-san said, I started to believe I could atone for what I did to Shizuka," Chikako explained. "I started doing volunteer work and helped others even when I wanted to do something else. I began to feel better about what I did but you know it wasn't enough to erase what I felt about what I did to Shizuka. This entire world was created because I believed I still deserved punishment."

Chikako smiled at me. "But thanks to you and Tsubasa-san, I feel like I'm really a better person now," she told me.

I smiled back at Chikako.

Time stopped around me and I heard the familiar voice speak to me.

_Thou art I... and I am thou…_

_Thou hast established a genuine bond…_

_It brings thee closer to a new life…_

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Lovers Arcana…_

Time continued and I was still smiling at Chikako... until the world around us began to quake. Chikako and I were taken by surprise when the theater began to fall apart. Large amounts of debris crashed into the floor around us and we weren't given much time to run out of the theater.

"What's happening?" Chikako yelled.

"The world must not be able to hold itself together when the demon is defeated," I yelled back while jumping away as a piece of the ceiling that smashed against the floor next to my foot.

That was the only explanation I could think of at the moment while the theater fell apart. Chikako and I ran into the lobby and saw that Poseidon was no longer inside the ticket booth and chains were no longer surrounding the exits. We ran into the exit, tackling them open as we escaped the falling apart theater. We continued to run while sounds of crashing echoed behind us. We ran into that dark tunnel and kept running into that black darkness until we could no longer hear the echoing of the crumbling world behind us. Even then, we ran until we sprinted out of that tunnel and back into the real world.

In the real world, the sun was setting and the street lamps on the road were beginning to turn on. Chikako and I collapsed on the rock ground.

"We escaped," I said in between taking deep breaths.

Chikako was also taking deep breaths while wiping the sweat off her face. She looked at me and gave me an exhausted smile. I returned her smile.

"Kimi Amaya?" a woman's voice asked.

I got up as quickly as I could when I heard the woman's voice. I looked in the direction the voice came from and saw a woman in the middle of her twenties. The woman wore a teal sundress with a jacket and . She had messy and short teal hair and was playing with her fingers while she stared at us. If I had to, I would say she had a kind of modest beauty about her. She had above-average looks but didn't show it off.

"Hanamura-san said this was the place," the woman said tilting her head to the side. "I was sensing a high density of Shadows in the area but they disappeared just a minute ago…"

"Um… who are you?" I asked the woman.

The woman jumped, my question disrupting her concentration. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said in a hurry. "I should really have introduced myself before I asked you for your names."

The woman smiled and bowed to us.

"My name is Fuuka Yamagishi, I'm a friend of Yosuke Hanamura…"


	9. Chapter 9: Gazing at the Moon

Fuuka didn't bother talking to us while we sat in the back of her car. Chikako was trembling a little and played with her fingers while I sat down next to her. She must still be shaken after what happened. I didn't blame since I was feeling the same. We couldn't stay still after just surviving a life or death situation, especially since Chikako had to face her memories of Shizuka. It would take time but I was sure she would recover from having old wounds reopened.

"I'm so glad you managed to save her, Amaya-san," Fuuka said while driving. "It's been so long since the call that I was afraid neither of you two would come out of that tunnel. I would have got in to help but sadly, my Persona isn't built for combat."

"You're a Persona-User too?" I asked. Yosuke might have told me that Fuuka was a Persona-User but my memory was sort of scrambled at the moment.

"Yes but my Persona is built for detecting hostile targets and scanning for weaknesses," she answered. "Even if I don't summon my Persona, I could still detect the high density of Shadows that were coming out of that tunnel."

Fuuka smiled. "You know, I get the same feeling from you that I do from a good friend of mine," Fuuka told me.

"What kind of feeling?" I asked curious about this friend she was talking about. Yosuke had said I was similar to his best friend, making me wonder what people thought they saw in me.

"You have the same aura," Fuuka answered. "The same aura that pulled people to him. So many individuals opened their hearts to him because of that aura of his. It feels sort of strange to meet another person with the same aura."

"She's saying you have charisma, Amaya-san," Chikako whispered while looking out at the pasting scenery.

I don't know why they would say I had charisma but maybe I don't understand because I'm not them. I wouldn't know what people thought about me.

"I'm really tired," Chikako said. "Could we maybe talk tomorrow?"

"That's a good idea," Fuuka said. "You must be tired too, Amaya-san. Take a nap and we'll be at your house when you wake up..."

Does she know where I live? I kept asking myself that question but I was tired. My eyes closed and I leaned my head against the window.

Sleep came to me almost immediately.

...

I should have known this would happen when I fell asleep.

I was back in the Velvet Room, sitting at that dining table with Igor and Irene sitting across from me. I was grateful for the music that Nameless and Belladonna played. My body really needed to be calmed down after what happened. What I didn't need, however, was the increased swaying of the room. The swaying of the room and the loud booms coming from outside told me that the ship was sailing in the middle of a storm. Igor and Irene didn't look concerned about the storm outside.

Igor chuckled. "I must congratulate you, Kimi Amaya, for overcoming this trial," Igor chuckled. "It was a dangerous road to travel alone but I had complete faith you would come out. And not only did you survive, you have come out with an irreplaceable ally."

"An ally that gave you the Lovers Social Link," Irene said holding up her tome-like book to let me see the picture of Chikako and me inside that theater.

"I would congratulate you further but the force behind the curtains is not yet finished," Igor told me.

"You will have to go through this again soon," Irene said.

"Wait! Are you telling me I'll have to go back to that world?" I yelled.

"That is what our Master sees in the near future," Igor answered.

"Philemon isn't wrong when it comes to these things," Irene added.

I don't want to go back into that nightmarish world again, no matter what someone says. I still had another choice. "Can't I just stop the person from calling the Nostalgia Line?" I asked.

"Not possible," Irene answered.

"Why not?" I yelled the instant she answered.

"Humans have the tendency to remember their happiest memories when the future is grim," Igor answered. "It gives them the strength and courage to face their trials but that is the problem. Unless you can solve their problems, the human will undoubtedly wish to experience their happiest memories again."

So I can't prevent them from calling unless I solve their problems beforehand? Wouldn't smashing their phones work too? Dammit, why does this guy always have to speak philosophy? I'd rather talk with Irene, at least she gives me a clear answer.

"Philemon told us that it'll happen really soon but didn't give us a date or time," Irene told me.

"Kimi Amaya, all I will say is to be ready when it comes," Igor chuckled. "This trial will be harder than the last but remember that we have complete faith in our Master's choice."

I heard the bell ring but I wasn't in the Velvet Room for that long. The other times I was in the Velvet Room were a lot longer but I got my answer when I felt someone shake my shoulder. I wasn't sleeping for that long so of course my time in the Velvet Room was going to be shorter.

Irene waved at me while Igor chuckled.

"I await your next visit to the Velvet Room," he chuckled while the room disappeared in a flash of light.

...

"We're here, Amaya-san," Fuuka said shaking me awake.

I opened my eyes slowly and closed them again when I saw the bright lights coming out of my home. Sasaki must be working right now since such bright lights came out of the house's windows. The woman always needed a huge amount of lighting for her art when the sun was setting. The lights made the house stick out in the middle of the forest, so much that anyone in Umizuo could see our home. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the lights while I stretched my arms and legs. Chikako wasn't next to me so I figured Fuuka must have brought her back home first.

"Thanks for bringing me back home," I told Fuuka while I stepped out of her car.

"It's nothing," she said. "You deserved some rest after saving Kimura-san."  
>I walked towards my front door but stopped midway before turning back to Fuuka. "If it's not inconvenient for you-"<p>

Fuuka held up her hand while her other dug through her purse. She pulled out a pen and notes and wrote something on the note. She handed me the note. "Meet me at that address tomorrow with Kimura-san and I'll answer any questions you have."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Amaya-san."

With that said, Fuuka went back inside her car and drove down the path back to the road. I stood where I was for a moment before I decided to go walk through my home's front door. The moment I opened that door, however, I was blasted with the strong smell of paint. I picked up one of the medical masks Sasaki leaves next to the front door and walked further into our home. I saw Sasaki sitting on a ladder with a paint sprayer, spraying orange paint on the living room's walls. My guardian was too focused on spraying the wall that she didn't notice me coming in.

"Aunt Sasaki!"

My guardian screamed when she heard my yell. She almost fell of the ladder but caught herself before she could. Her head darted from side to side until she saw me.

"Kimi-chan! You scared me!" she yelled back. She took deep breaths through her mask while balancing her body on top of the ladder. "What are you doing here so early? I'm not supposed to pick you up for another hour."

"I got a ride from a friend," I answered. "Besides, you didn't tell me you were going to paint the living room. Didn't you pay someone to paint the place before we moved in?"

"I did but I don't like the job they did," Sasaki answered. "It's not lively enough for me! There has to be brighter colors!"

I knew that Sasaki wasn't going to be satisfied with painting the living room. Once she started something, she sticks to it even after she finished the initial goal. When she was done with the living room, she would paint her room next and after she was done with that, my room would be next. The cycle would keep going until the entire house was repainted and I had to camp outside because of the paint's fumes. That's what happened when I first moved in with Sasaki after my parents died...

Now that I think about it, Sasaki repainted the house a lot more frequently after my parents died.

"Might as well take advantage of this," Sasaki said. "Kimi-chan, get me the pink and red paint in my studio. I'm feeling like making this room a lot more colorful!"

I sighed while I helped my guardian with her work. I spent the rest of the evening painting the living with my guardian but I didn't have anything else to do. We spent the time talking about what we did during the last few days. I told her about Chikako and how I helped her, leaving out the supernatural parts of course, and Sasaki was impressed I already made a friend. She talked about her work and how it felt like she was getting more and more requests. My guardian and I already had a bond with each other but I guess it took a night like this for the voice to confirm it.

_I am Thou... and thou art I..._

_Thou hast established a new bond..._

_It bring thee closer to a new life..._

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Persona's of the Moon Arcana..._

I ignored the voice while we painted the living together. We kept painting until it got late and Sasaki decided I should go to sleep now. I agreed with her, my body was exhausted and so was my brain. I gladly went into my room, opened the window, and laid down on my futon. I fell asleep in an instant.

I didn't wake to find myself in the Velvet Room, instead I got a normal dream this time...

Or at least that's what i thought.

I opened my eyes to see rows and rows of prison cells. The place looked as if it had been abandoned for years Plants grew over the cement floor and over the barred windows. Rust covered every piece of metal in the prison. Only top floor of the prison still had its floor intact, the other two floors falling apart so much no one could walk across them. Despite looking abandoned, one cell had a soft light coming out.

I blinked and in an instant, i was standing in front of the lit prison cell. Candles were set up all around the cell but its occupant wasn't facing any of the flames. The tall man in ragged clothes sat in the corner, his face placed between his legs. I couldn't see his face because of that mane of red hair he had. His fingers placed madly on the bright cell phone in his hands. He was laughing to himself while he pressed the phone's buttons.

"I failed twice but the next will lose his memories," the man said to himself. "I'm doing everything you want me to but that girl is getting in the way! Don't punish me because that useless god can't kill a little girl! I'll keep sending the messages to the numbers you give me but don't expect me to help that god! You don't need that girl's heart as long as you have me!"

I don't know why I'm dreaming this but this man was the one sending the Nostalgia Line messages. Knowing that information, however, was useless unless I could see his face. His face was still hidden behind that mane of red hair.

Hurry up and show me your face!

I heard a beep come from the man's cell phone. The man's chuckling stopped the instant after the beep came.

And then he spun his head to me.

I screamed the moment I saw his face because what I saw wasn't what I expected.

His entire face was changed into moving bits of mosaic. I couldn't see his face because of the mosaic.

"What are you doing here!" he screamed at me.

The man bent down to pick up a knife, its blade glinting in the soft light as it was pointed at me.

"I'm going to kill you bastard!"

The man charged at me and swung his knife at my gut.

...

I woke up the instant his knife touched my stomach. I was drenched in sweat and gasping for air. I don't know what happened or why it happened, all I know is that I just had a dream about the man who was responsible for sending the Nostalgia Line messages. Except the moment I saw his face, something seemed to block him out so i wouldn't see his face. I had many questions but one was far more important.

Why did I have a dream about that man?


	10. Chapter 10: Late Warnings

As much as I would have wanted to find out who that man in my dream was or even why I had a dream about him, I just couldn't have my answer. I wanted to go over to Fuuka to get some answers but I didn't feel right doing it when Chikako still didn't feel well a week after I rescued her from the Nostalgia Line. Chikako was getting better but she was still losing sleep over what happened. I was willing to let her have as much time she needed to recover. While waiting for Chikako, I had replaced my phone with a similar model but looking back on it now, I regretted my decision.

"Refill please!" a customer yelled from his table.

"I'm coming!" I yelled running as fast as I could without spilling any of the coffee in the steaming pot I held. I hurried to refill the man's cup while another customer yelled for me. I ran around in circles, doing whatever the customers ordered. It was exhausting work and I'm afraid it wasn't going to end anytime soon. The worst part of it, however, is the extremely embarrassing waitress uniform I was forced to wear. It was a little too tight and I was afraid it was a little too easy for someone to catch a glance. I wouldn't have been in this position or wearing something like this if I was still living in Kyoto.

Now, why am I in this position? I just had to listen to the text message Irene had sent me. 'Get a part-time job' was all she sent me. I don't know how she got my number or why she sent me such a straightforward message. In fact, it was so straightforward, it ended up being confusing because I didn't which job she was talking about. I looked at the available part-time jobs in Umizuo but only one hired me. It was my luck that made the only one to employ me be a cafe owner who gets his customers with attractive waitresses.

I was flattered to know that guys find me attractive but that wasn't what I wanted to find out. I wanted to find out why Irene told me to get a part-time job. Wearing this idiotic uniform proves how much I wanted an answer for my question. The problem, however, was how long am I going to have to work at this job? My arms and legs are sore and I was doing my best not to look tired despite being exhausted. One of the customers was giving me a creepy glance and I had to fight off my desire to whack him in the head with the coffee pot I held. Working in a place like this required both courage and charm. I had to look and move as attractive as I could without giving the customers any wrong ideas while fighting off the desire to smack them for staring at my chest or trying to take peek of my behind.

I took a much needed break in the kitchen while another part-timer took my place in the cafe.

"You're done for the day, Amaya-san," my boss said appearing in front of me. "Here's what you earned..."

I looked up to see my boss Satoshi Otaki handing me a check for my day's work. My boss was a man in his early thirties with premature graying hair. He wore a waiter uniform, probably so he wouldn't look out of place in a cafe full of young waitresses but his age showed. At least the man had a kind look to his appearance or I would have thought of him as a pervert for owning a cafe full of young girls in tight uniforms.

I took the check from his hand and sighed. "This is exhausting work," I said while taking a look at my check. Only three thousand yen? Is that all I earned for my work?

"You'll get used to it after a while, Amaya-san," Satoshi told me. He chuckled. "Every one of my part-timers had the same reaction as you on their first day."

"I'd rather not get used to men staring at my ass..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," I quickly said.

I hurried into the locker room to change back into my clothes. I placed the check into my wallet and took my purse out of my locker. After taking out everything I had left inside the locker, I hurried to leave the cafe. On my way out, however, I overheard a conversation coming from inside Satoshi's office, which was located next to the back door. I couldn't help but stand in front of the back door, listening to the conversation going on inside the office.

"It's a business gimmick, dear," Satoshi's voice said. "I have no interest whatsoever in these girls!"

"That's what you keep telling me!" A woman's voice yelled. "But you have no proof, do you Satoshi? Give me proof and I'll let this go..."

The office door flew open and a woman in her late twenties stormed out. The woman gave me an angry glance before tackling the back door open. I turned around to see my boss coming out of his office.

My boss sighed when he saw me. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"I heard the last part," I answered.

Satoshi sighed again. "I'm just having a few problems with my wife," he told me. "It comes with being the owner of a cafe. She just doesn't see that the waitresses are only a gimmick to attract customers."

"You mean those uniforms weren't your idea?" I asked smiling a little.

"I keep my eyes above the neck," he said with a serious expression.

At least he wasn't lying about not looking at his part-timers but that still made me wonder why someone who's married would own a cafe like this. I wanted to ask but it wasn't my place to intrude on others personal matters, not without a reason at least.

He sighed yet again. "The waitresses aren't the real problem, Amaya-san," he told me. "It's something more important than whether or not I'm taking glances at my part-timers. I doubt someone who's not married would understand."

He was kind of right. I didn't have the ability to understand the problem he had but I wouldn't know for sure until I found out the problem. In order to find out about this man's problem, I guess I'll need to be more understanding.

"My next shift's two days from now, right?"

"Yes and you'll have to put on some make-up next time. Also, try to charm the customer a bit and he might give you a bigger tip," Satoshi told me.

"Thanks for the advice," I said turning back to the back door.

I left my boss and the cafe into the shaded alley outside. The sun was still high in the sky and my guardian wasn't going to pick me up until sunset. I had three thousand yen to spend so at least I wasn't going to be bored. Maybe I should go somewhere to get a snack?

"You have to try again later, Kimi Amaya," Irene said.

I jumped at the sound of Irene's voice coming from below. It took me a while but I managed to look down to see the cute little girl in her blue dress standing right next to my feet, her hand holding onto the hem of my skirt.

"This is our first meeting outside the Velvet Room, isn't it?" Irene chuckled.

She was right, this is the first time I talked with her outside the room that appeared when I slept. For a while I had hoped Igor and Irene was just a dream but seeing the little girl out here in the real world disproved that theory.

I sighed while I looked down at the girl. "I want to say hello, Irene, but I just have to ask. What are you doing in the Real World?"

"I want to have a look around your world," she answered. "And you are going to be my guide..."

...

With nothing else to do, I had taken Irene to the docks. I didn't expect to see Irene so excited just to see the ocean and ships. The way she looked at it was the same as if she had never seen the ocean or even a fishing boat. Irene was staring at everything at the docks with the same excited expression and watching her run around made me tired. That little girl has so much energy that I couldn't keep up with her.

"The ocean is bigger than I thought," Irene said staring at the ocean with wide eyes. "It looks like it goes on forever."

"You never saw the ocean before?" I asked Irene even though I knew the answer.

But what she said surprised me.

"This is my first time outside the Velvet Room," Irene told me while she stared at a fishing boat coming into the docks.

"You lived in that room for your whole life?"

"In a sense, I did live my entire life in the Velvet Room but it's more accurate to say that I was always a resident of the Velvet Room," she told me. "There is no such thing as past, present, or future inside the Velvet Room. Nobody dies inside that room but nobody is truly alive in that room either. Our only purpose for existance is to help our guests, no matter which time or universe they are from. I was born to be Igor's assistant because my brother and sisters had left the Velvet Room."

"That's so sad," I said. Irene chuckled.

"I don't find it sad to be Igor's assistant, I'm actually proud to be one," she chuckled. "But I want to understand the reasons why my siblings left the room. Igor told me why they left but I just couldn't understand it. I'm hoping you'll help me find that out, Kimi Amaya."

I stared at the little girl in front of me. She was a girl born for a single purpose, a purpose that used to belong to her siblings. Knowing this, I felt myself getting a little closer to the little assistant that lived inside the Velvet Room.

My stomach grumbled loudly and I'm sure that Irene heard it too.

"It's been some time since I ate lunch," I told her.

Irene grinned at me and I wondered why.

I watched as the little girl ran away from me and towards the fishing boat that had just docked. I wondered what she was doing when she walked on the bridge connecting the boat to the dock. A tall and muscular fisherman stopped Irene from boarding the ship and I watched while the little girl held her hands up to the fisherman. I guess she wanted a fish from the fisherman, most likely because I told her I was hungry. How she came to have this idea was beyond me. The fisherman shook his head, obviously refusing to give Irene a fish. I saw him trying to tell Irene why he couldn't give her a fish but the little girl responded by taking out a tiny bag from within her dress. Irene held up the bag upside down and shook it...

Dozens of thick gold coins poured out of Irene's tiny bag.

Both the fisherman and I were shocked to see the dozens of gold coins come out of the bag. Guessing from the look on Irene's face, I had to guess she was offering the gold coins for a single fish. Too bad for her that the fisherman was still refusing to give a fish, most likely because they haven't cleaned them yet I guess. The little girl responded to the refusal again by taking something out of her dress.

This time, she had brought out a telescoping steel baton.

Irene swung the baton once to extend it and swung it again, her swing aiming right in between the fisherman's legs. I couldn't just watch anymore, I ran towards the little girl while she boarded the ship and took a single fish out of a barrel. By the time I got to here, Irene had got off the ship and was walking along the bridge.

"I got a fish for you, Kimi Amaya!" Irene yelled proudly showing me the tiny fish she held in her hand.

"I don't want a fish!" I yelled while I grabbed the little girl and lifted her off the ground.

"But you're hungry and the purpose of these fish are to satiate hunger," Irene argued. "But why was the man so adamant about not giving me any? Even when I offered compensation for the fish, he refused to give a single fish."

This girl was so ignorant of how the world works and I would have felt pity for her... if I wasn't so concerned about running as far away from the docks as I could with Irene in my arms. I kept running until the docks were no longer in sight. I was exhausted before but now I was so tired that I couldn't move my legs anymore. I sat down on the side of the street while Irene jumped around me, laughing loudly.

"That was fun, Kimi Amaya!" She laughed. She pulled on my head, trying to get me back on my feet. "Let's do it again! This time, you'll run back to the Velvet Room door."

"Door? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I gave you a key," she told me. "That's the key to the door which leads into the Velvet Room. I believe it's located somewhere near the place where you waited for the last week at the end of the day." Irene pulled on my sleeve. "Now, come on! I want you to bring me back to the Velvet Room!"

So she wanted me to bring her to the place where I waited for Sakaki? Since I was going there anyway, I might as well bring her with me.

But I'm way too tired to do it right now.

"I'm tired, Irene," I told her. "Let me rest for a bit and maybe I'll carry you back to that room."

Irene pouted while she continued to pull on my shirt. "I want to go now!" She cried.

"You act mature but you really are a child, aren't you?" I said in between breaths.

"But I have to go back now!" She cried. "Igor..."

Irene stopped talking the moment she said her master's name.

"Oh no..." she whispered. "I forget about what Master told me to do."

"Please say it has nothing to do with me," I groaned.

"All my Master wanted me to do was tell you to be ready," Irene said. "But I was so late that I'm afraid the advice might not be as useful..."

My phone rung inside my purse and I already knew what the reason was. Irene gave me a sorry expression while my hand pulled my phone out of my purse and flipped it open. A text message opened up on the screen and I read it despite knowing what it would say.

The text message was from Yosuke and it said exactly what I thought it would.

'Another person received the Nostalgia Line message just half an hour ago' the message said. 'It's another person from your school and from what Fuuka found out about Kimura-san, it seems this person has a connection with her. The name's Hiroki Tsubasa. You should try to find out more about this person from Kimura-san. Tell me everything when you're done, Kimi-chan."

"Your next trial is here, Kimi Amaya," Irene said giving me a nervous smile.

...

**Author's Note: Sorry about the late update**.


	11. Chapter 11: Mechanical Feelings

The sun was setting while I carried Irene to the place she said the door to the Velvet Room was. I walked with Irene in my arms towards the place where I waited for Sasaki every night for the last week. When I got there, Irene told me to turn into an alley nearby. I wondered if I could tell the door apart if I saw it and when I turned into that alley, I was right about the door being obvious. Right in the middle of the alley was a tall blue door. I stood in front of it, staring at the strange design of the door. I pulled on the handle but the door wouldn't budge. I remembered obtaining a key from Irene and for some reason, the key always appeared in my pocket whenever I thought about the Velvet Room. While I held Irene up with one arm, my other hand took the key out of my breast pocket. The key felt like it was being pulled into the keyhole when I took it out. A loud unlocking sound came from within the door when I turned the key.

"We're here, Irene," I whispered into the napping girl's ear.

"Put me down," she whispered back.

I let the little girl down in front of the door.

Irene yawned and rubbed her eyes. "You're next trial is coming soon, Kimi Amaya," Irene said still rubbing her eyes. "Are you sure you can make the right choices again?"

"What are you saying?"

"You made the right choices in the last trial but this one will be more dangerous," Irene answered. "I hope you can make the right choices again this time, Kimi Amaya. I really want to spend some more time with you."

Irene smiled at me and then turned around. She opened the door and in a bright flash of light, the little girl disappeared. For a second, I saw an expression on Irene's face that looked like she knew a lot more about my so-called trial. The reason I liked the little girl was that she always gave me a straight answer but now Irene only gave me more questions.

But I still wondered if I could make the right decisions this time…

…..

The next day after school, Chikako and I hurried to the student council room. Since Hiroki was the student council president, it was a safe bet he would be inside this room. The other council members might be in the room but according to Chikako, they leave before Hiroki when their meetings over. Hiroki stays behind for a while in order to record what happened in the meeting. I was suspicious about why she knew so much about his schedule but I wasn't questioning her about it now. Right now, I needed to stop the student council president from calling the Nostalgia Line. Either by convincing him not to call or… something a little more destructive.

"This can't be a coincidence," Chikako said. "Hiroki-kun has a connection to me. Whoever's doing this must have chose him because he failed with me."

"Don't think of it as a possibility, Kimura-san," I told her. "It's not your fault Tsubasa-san's being targeted by the Nostalgia Line."

"I know," Chikako sighed. "I'm sorry, Amaya-san. I went through so much in that world and I'm still blaming myself for things that aren't my fault…"

"That's alright, Kimura-san. Just think about saving Tsubasa-san and nothing else," I said.

Chikako nodded but her face soon turned red afterwards. I sighed while Chikako's face got so red, she looked ready to start smoking. I ignored her and slightly opened the door to the council's meeting room. I saw Hiroki standing in front of the other three members of the student council, speaking intensely about something. If I placed my ear against the door, I could make out a little of what he was talking about.

"These funds for the clubs are far less than last year's. No matter how we divide these funds, the clubs are going to get mad…"

Hiroki was talking about the funding for the school's clubs. Apparently, the school gave the council less money than last year and nothing the council did would please the clubs. If that was the problem Hiroki was having, then it would be too simple to solve. There had to be something more than just money issues.

"How long are these meetings?" I asked Chikako.

"It should be over in half an hour," she answered checking her watch.

"That's too long. We need to get closer," I said.

"There's a air duct we can walk through in the girl's bathroom," Chikako responded pointing down the hallway. " It leads right over the student council room. You can hear everything they talk about inside the room."

I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know this?"

My glare was obviously having an effect on Chikako. She chuckled while she spoke quickly. "I know everything about the school's ventilation system and the layout of the entire building. You know because I'm in the Occult club…"

"That's a weak excuse," I said.

"I know," she sighed.

"Anyway, an air vent won't help us in this situation," I told her. " We have to be able to move quickly in case he starts calling the Nostalgia Line. We have to be able to destroy his phone in that case."

Chikako pointed at the room. "They're leaving! We have to hide!"

I followed Chikako to hide in the bathroom nearby while three of the council members left the room. We watched the three students hurrying to leave the school, each one of them having an exhausted look on their faces.

"The president is asking for too much," the student council's Treasurer said. " How does he expect the student council to convince the board to give more funds for the clubs? We're just students, we don't have any actual power around here."

"I'm sure Hiroki-san knows that but he still wants to change things around here," the Secretary said.

"The guy has a little too much passion," the student council's vice-president said. "You know with that much passion, he's going to try too hard. It's only going to backfire on him sooner or later…"

The three council members continued to converse while Chikako and I left our hiding place. When the three were out of sight, we went back to the student council room. Chikako and I gave each other a nod before opening the door.

"Hello again, Hiroki-san," Chikako said with a nervous voice.

Hiroki looked up from the pile of files in front of him to see Chikako and I at the door.

He gave us a smile. "Ah, Chikako-san, it's a pleasure to see you again," he said standing up. The council president was at least a foot taller than both of us, so we had to look up at him while he looked down. "I'm sorry if you are here for the Occult club. I cannot do anything about the club until you have three members…"

Hiroki noticed me standing next to Chikako. "Oh, you got a new member?" He asked Chikako.

"Uh, not exact-"

"I'm Kimi Amaya, the new Occult club member," I interrupted holding my hand out to the council president. "Nice to meet you, Tsubasa-san."

Chikako gave me a teary stare and looked ready to hug me but I quickly shot her a glare back, stopping her before she could hug me.

"I'm glad Chikako-san could find another member for her club," Hiroki said smiling. "But until you find another member, I still can't do anything for the Occult club."

"We're not here to talk about the Occult Club," I told him. "We're here for research actually…"

Hiroki gave us an interested expression. "What kind of research?" He asked.

"Research into the Nostalgia Line," I answered. "Do you know anything about it?"

My question had an obvious effect on the council president. He looked honestly surprised at my question about the Nostalgia Line. His expression was enough to confirm that he did receive the Nostalgia Line text.

"I only heard the rumors," he lied pushing his glasses up. "It's about happy memories or something like that?"

"It lets you experience your happiest memory," I told him. " But are you sure you don't know anything about the Nostalgia Line?"

He pushed his glasses up again when he spoke. "All I know about the Nostalgia Line is the rumors the townspeople talk about amongst themselves and nothing else," he answered. "I'm sorry if you expected something else, Amaya-san."

"It's alright, I didn't really expect an answer." I already got my answer from him. He received the text and I confirmed it.

"If you're done with the questions, then is it alright for me to leave? I have a lot of work to do and I would like to get started as soon as possible," he said gesturing to the pile of files he had on the table.

"Chikako and I have nothing else to say," I answered. "We'll leave so you can start working."

Hiroki nodded. "Thank you, Amaya-san," he said. " I hope you have fun in Chikako-san's club."

I nodded back at the student council president and turned around, taking Chikako's hand while I walked out of the room. The moment I stepped out of that room and closed the doors behind me, my whole body slumped forward and I sighed.

"I think we did our job nicely," I said turning to Chikako.

Chikako, however, surprised me with the tears trickling down her cheeks and a trembling smile on her face. She hugged me tightly a second later.

" I love you, Kimi!" She cried. "I said so much mean things to you before because I thought you were making fun of me but you still joined the Occult club! I liked you before but now I love you now! I love you as much as a woman can love another woman without it becoming weird!"

"It's already starting to feel weird, Chikako," I said while Chikako hugged me. " How about you stop hugging me so I can talk about my plan?"

I could feel Chikako's gratitude after hearing I would be joining her Occult Club. I felt the two of us growing closer but I dismissed the feeling quickly.

Chikako stopped hugging me after I said that. She wiped the tears off her cheeks. "Okay, Kimi, you can start," she said.

"The plan is very simple," I told Chikako. "Now that I know he received the Nostalgia Line text, all we have to do is destroy his phone the moment he takes it out, thereby preventing him from making the call in the first place."

After hearing my plan, Chikako could only stare at me.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"What do you mean 'is that all'? That's all we have to do," I answered. "Destroy his phone and he won't be able to call the Nostalgia Line. It's as simple as that."

"I guess that's good enough but what happened to the plan convincing him not to call?" She asked.

"He won't believe that Nostalgia Line throws you into your worst memories so it would be pointless to tell him that," I explained. "I knew you wouldn't believe it either when I tried to convince you not to call."

"I guess you're right, Kimi," she sighed. "I wouldn't have believed you if you told me everything about the Nostalgia Line so I doubt Hiroki-san would believe it."

"That leaves the only choice of action being to destroy his phone," I said.

Chikako nodded, agreeing with my plan to destroy Hiroki's phone.

I only hoped this plan would work.

…..

For the next hour, Chikako and I left the school to shadow Hiroki everywhere he went. For the whole hour, however, Hiroki didn't even take out his phone once. These days, it's hard to find a single student who didn't check his phone every ten minutes and yet we found someone who didn't even look at an electronic screen for the whole hour. Hiroki had his attention buried in the file he carried. He looked like he was thinking hard about whatever was in the file. I was starting to expect the student wouldn't take out his phone until it was time for me to wait for Sakaki. I picked up a long steel pipe for nothing if that was the case.

"Doesn't he have any friends to text or someone to call?" I said getting annoyed.

" Hiroki-san doesn't use his phone that much," Chikako told me. "Every day I followed him, he only took his phone out once because someone was calling him."

" Damn it, so he's one of those people who don't use their phones for anything other than calling," I whispered swinging the pipe I held at the ground

Then I noticed something weird about what Chikako said. "Wait, you were following him before this?"

Chikako began sweating. "Um… no?"

I sighed. "I'm going to forget about that, okay?"

Chikako nodded.

"Do you at least have his number?" I asked.

Chikako took her phone, the phone that was founded by a local policewoman and gave back to her after seeing her name on one of the key-chains. Chikako scrolled through a page of numbers until showing me Hiroki's phone number.

"Okay, now call his number so he'll take out his phone," I said tightening my grip on the steel pipe.

Chikako was ready to execute the plan. My phone, however, started to ring before she called.

I sighed while I flipped my phone open.

"Hello?" I said.

"Kimi! Are you already chasing after Hiroki Tsubasa!" Yosuke's voice yelled through my phone.

"I'm kind of in the middle of preventing him from calling, Yosuke," I said back.

"Good, Kimi," he said. "I hoped you won't need it but I've-"

I didn't listen to what Yosuke said.

My attention was all on Hiroki, who had just taken his phone out.

"I'm sorry Yosuke, but I have to hang up!" I yelled gripping my pipe tighter with one hand.

"Wait, Kimi!" Yosuke yelled while I snapped my phone closed.

Now was my chance! I had to destroy Hiroki's phone as fast as possible while he still had it out. I ran as fast as I could towards Hiroki, swinging the pipe above my head. Thanks to two years in kendo, I was sure I could strike his phone without hurting him. I swung the pipe with all my strength at Hiroki's phone, landing a perfect strike on the phone. For a slow second, Hiroki was in a state of pure surprise while his phone flew out of his hand. I didn't bother hiding my face while I stood there, staring back at the shocked Hiroki. I didn't mind if he knew who destroyed his phone as long as he didn't have to experience that world of the Nostalgia Line.

"Amaya-san?" was all he could say when he saw me.

I let out a breath of relief when I saw the shattered remains of Hiroki's phone on the cement street below us. There was no chance of anyone calling the Nostalgia Line on that phone.

Hiroki took his glasses off and wiped them with a cloth. "Um… mind explaining to me why you just destroyed my phone, Amaya-san?" he asked while he wiped his glasses.

"Believe me, you would thank me if I didn't do that," I answered turning around. I was all ready to run away the moment he started to ask more questions…

"I'M SERIOUSLY BEGINNING TO DOUBT YOUR INTELLIGENCE, KIMI AMAYA!"

It shouldn't be possible… but I heard Poseidon's scream clearly and looking at Hiroki, I'm sure he heard it too.

"This can't be happening," I whispered turning my head back to the phone. " I destroyed the phone…"

Black tendrils were rising up from the black screen of Hiroki's phone. Faster than we could react, the black tendrils snapped themselves around our limps.

"I'm coming, Kimi!" Chikako yelled running towards us.

"What's happening, Amaya-san?" Hiroki yelled trying to pry the tendrils off his arms.

"KIMI AMAYA, YOU SHOULD KNOW I HAVE BACK-UP PLANS IN CASE YOU TRY THIS!" Poseidon screamed from the broken phone.

The tendrils pulled us closer to the broken phone and I knew it was pointless to resist. Chikako got caught by the tendrils too and she was being pulled in with us but she knew it was pointless to resist too. Hiroki was the only one who tried to fight back. He tried to rip the tendrils but more snapped themselves around his body.

We were lifted off the ground by the tendrils and in one pull…

All three of us were thrown into the black ocean.

…..

Once again I found myself lying on a cold floor except this time, loud mechanical noises pounded against my ear. My hand gripped the steel pipe tighter while my other pushed against the floor. I stood up quickly and got my balance back just as quick. I kept my eyes closed for a while until I stood up. The mechanical noises only got louder and I was curious to know where it was coming from, so I opened my eyes.

The sight I saw was far more terrifying than I thought.

I was standing in the middle of a massive factory with dozens of impossibly long rows separated by an equally long moving belt. What traveled along the belts were all the same blocks of gray metal that was being formed into something while it traveled down the belt. What terrified me, however, wasn't the sight of the vast factory or what was being built here. What terrified me was the ones who worked in the factory.

Hundred and hundreds of Hiroki Tsubasa's were sitting in front of the belts, picking up the metal and adding something else to it before putting it back on the belt. To see so many of the same person was a terrifying sight. To see the lifeless expression on their faces was even more terrifying.

"This is… horrible," Chikako's voice said next to me.

I turned to see Chikako standing a few feet away from me, her hands covering her mouth.

"I can't make a difference in this world…"

Chikako and I jumped at the loud voice of Hiroki echoing throughout the whole factory. His voice sounded… dead. As if he had no will to live left, that's how his voice sounded.

"This world doesn't see me as an individual…"

"This guy is special, Kimi Amaya!" Poseidon's laugh echoed. "He doesn't have any particularly bad memories except for a nightmare he had in the past. You are fighting the demon created from his nightmare! Legion will rip out your heart, Kimi Amaya!"

Poseidon's laugh continued to echo until we focused our attention on the Hiroki Tsubasa's around us. They kept working without paying attention to us. It was heart-wrenching to watch them build something that looked useless but they kept working with those lifeless expressions on their faces. One Hiroki, however, caught my attention. It was working faster than the others and smoke was beginning to rise from its head and joints. It kept working until sparks started flying out of its joints and head. Chikako and I watched that single Hiroki until it finally expired, its head falling on the belt.

A mechanical voice soon spoke when that Hiroki fell.

"Number 122349 has outlived his usefulness. Replacing Number 122349…" the mechanical voice said.

In no time at all, another Hiroki came and threw the dead one aside, soon taking its place at the belt. It began working on the useless piece of metal the moment it sat down.

"The world only sees me as a machine it can easily replace when I'm gone…" Hiroki's voice echoed.

I looked at Chikako. Tears were trickling down her cheeks while she stared at the dead Hiroki on the floor. " This is so… sad," she cried.

It wasn't until I looked around that I noticed something important. I could only see Chikako and me in the entire factory. The real Hiroki was nowhere in sight. But if I couldn't see him here…

Then that meant Hiroki Tsubasa was amongst these machines, working on a useless piece of metal with the same lifeless expression as them.


	12. Chapter 12: Pity For The Machine

"There has to be some way to tell these things apart from the real Hiroki," I said inspecting one of the machines for anything that didn't fit.

It was both amazing and frustrating to see that these machines showed no signs, other than their dead expression and synchronized movements, that they weren't mechanical. They looked soft and moved with the same fluidity as a normal human. The only time they showed evidence of being machines was when they begun to expire. These things, however, weren't attacking us so we had at least a little time to search for the real Hiroki Tsubasa.

"These things aren't reacting at all," Chikako said waving her hand in front of a worker. Her hand moved closer to the machine's face. "I wonder what'll happen if I-"

"Don't touch them!" I yelled at Chikako.

Her hand stopped the instant I yelled.

"We don't know what'll happen if we disrupt their work," I told her. "Maybe the only reason they aren't attacking is because we aren't affecting their work. We can't disrupt them until we find Hiroki."

"You're right, Kimi. We need to find Hiroki first," she agreed taking her hand back.

Chikako and I hurried through the factory, checking every worker we passed but with each one we checked, the more I understood that there was no way to tell these things apart from the real person. We kept walking alongside the moving belt, checking the faces of the machines, until something unexpected came into sight.

The wall of the factory was entirely flat and made of rusting metal but I saw a thick steel door past the rows of belts. Looking farther down the factory, I saw nothing else on the wall. This door had to be the exit since it was the only door I could see.

"Chikako, I think I found the exit," I said turning to my partner.

Chikako hurried back to my side. "The exit? We can't leave without Hiroki," she said.

"We aren't leaving," I said. "We just got to know where the exit is in case this place begins falling apart like it did last time."

"That would be a good idea," Chikako said nodding.

Chikako and I crawled underneath the belts, making sure we didn't touch the workers while we crawled our way to the door. It was easier than I thought since the machines didn't move their legs while they worked. It took over a minute to get past them but we were at the door. I gripped the handle and turned it but it took both of us to pull it open. The air around us flushed into the room behind the door the moment we pulled it open. After opening the door, Chikako and I looked into the room behind it before stepping in.

The room behind the door was a massive tunnel made out of metal and painted white and black. The tunnel went on for a few dozen yards before something blocked it. Looking closer, I saw that a thick partition was blocking off our exit. It was just like what happened with the exit in Chikako's world. Instead of chains, it was a partition blocking off our exit. It looked too thick for our Personas-

BANG!

Chikako and I jumped when a terrifyingly loud bang came from behind the partition.

"What the hell was that?" Chikako yelled.

"Sounds like something-"

BANG!

Another bang came from behind the partition. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to shake the entire tunnel with every strike on the partition. I do not want to know what was on the other side and looking at Chikako's expression, neither did she.

Chikako turned back while I stared at the tunnel a little longer.

"We're going to have to deal with this after we find Hiroki," I said.

Chikako ignored what I said and pulled on my sleeve. "Kimi, something's wrong!" she yelled continuing to pull on my sleeve.

I turned around and what I saw shocked me just as much as it did Chikako.

None of the machines were working anymore. Every single one of them had their eyes on us. It was both creepy and terrifying to have so many stare at me. More so since every one of them had the same face and expression.

"Why are you trying?" The machine closest to us said while it stood up. The machine took a step towards us. It looked at us with dead eyes that faked sadness. "It is useless to try to make a difference in this world…"

Another one close to us stood up. "The world is just one giant machine. It can easily find replacement parts if one is no longer useful…"

The two machines kept walking towards us, both speaking in unison.

"You can't make a difference!" They screamed swinging their fists at us.

Chikako screamed but I swung the pipe in my hand. My swing was faster than theirs. The pipe I swung struck the head of a machine and I used all my strength to make the pipe go through its head and into the other machine's side. The first machine I struck had its head fly into the air, leaving behind a headless body with sparks and wires coming out of the stump where the head used to be. The strike I did to the second sliced it in half. Both halves fell on the metal floor, flailing its limbs before becoming motionless. The others saw what I did to them and stood up.

An entire army of mechanical Hiroki's were in front of us.

"Persona!" Chikako and I yelled.

My Persona Ran appeared behind me while Aphrodite appeared Chikako, surrounding us both a flash of blue aura. The machines reacted to our summoning by having every single one of them charge towards us. They tore through the belts and moved together as one giant stampede towards us.

Ran reacted the way I imagined and swung her hands in front of us. Torrents of salt-water pushed the stampede back but it wasn't enough to stop them completely. A few of them were ripped apart by the water but the majority got past. One was fast enough to get close to me but I struck the machine with my pipe before it could attack me. Ran crushed another machine with her hands while Aphrodite slashed one into pieces with her sharp diamond nails. Our Personas were far stronger and faster than the machines but they had far greater numbers. Every one we destroyed, another ten appeared to replace it.

"There's way too many of them!" Chikako yelled while she jumped away from a machine's attempt to grab her.

"I think i got something to lessen their numbers!" I yelled back.

I looked up at Ran and the spell I needed appeared in my head. "Mabufu!" I yelled.

Ran threw her hand in front of her, a bright light flashing in her palm. The light exploded at the machines, freezing every single one of them in the range of the light. The ones that were frozen crumbled seconds after being hit by my spell. I expected the others to stop but to my surprise, they kept moving forward towards us.

If we were to have any chance of saving Hiroki, we were going to have to get away from this stampede.

I grabbed Chikako's hand. "This way!" I yelled running alongside the wall, the most likely path to escape the hundreds of hostile machines.

Our Personas pushed the machines back while Chikako and I ran alongside the wall. It was the path with the least obstacles and it gave our Personas the chance to keep the crowd of machines back. They tried to surround us but Ran used the same spell as before and froze a good number of the machines.

"How many of these things are there?" I said looking around. The attacks done by our Persona didn't even make a dent in their numbers. More and more of the machines appeared until it looked as if the entire room was filled with them.

To my surprise, a machine managed to get past our Persona and was right in front of us. I swung the pipe at its head but it caught my weapon with one hand.

"Why are you even trying?" It asked me still showing us its dead expression. "I can't be saved, Kimi Amaya, just let Legion take all my memories. I'll be a burden to the world but it can replace me in less than a second…"

"Shut up! You aren't Hiroki!" I yelled at the machine.

"I am Hiroki Tsubasa," it responded. "We all are Hiroki Tsubasa…"

The machine took the pipe away from me and threw it towards the others. Several grabbed the pipe out of the air and in less than a few seconds, they tore the pipe into useless metal scraps.

The machine in front of us continued to talk. "We are Hiroki Tsubasa," it said. " It doesn't matter which Hiroki Tsubasa you take back home, does it? Any one of us will-"

I was about to yell at the machine but before I could, Chikako pushed me aside and screamed.

"None of you machines are the real Hiroki!" She screamed in the machine's face. Tears of anger tricked down her cheeks. "Nobody can replace Hiroki! Not you or any of these demons!"

Chikako pointed at the machine in front of us and screamed a spell.

But in the split second Chikako screamed her spell, I noticed something wrong with the machine. The moment after Chikako screamed at it, it twitched and sparks flew out of its necks. With these things, that sign meant it was about to expire but it didn't give any of the other signs, such as increased movement. What did it mean?

"Zionga!" Chikako screamed.

Aphrodite swung her hand at the machine, a large bolt of lightning striking down on it. The machine, however, didn't react at all. Instead, it looked like it was absorbing Chikako's spell.

"This is bad," Chikako said realizing her lightning spells wouldn't affect them.

The machines started throwing themselves at us again, hoping to overwhelm us with their massive numbers. Ran and Aphrodite did their best to push back the machines but I could feel Ran straining herself. The plan to get out of this crowd was not going to work but I was already trying to come up with another plan. If I could only get a chance, I might find a way we could locate the real Hiroki.

Its just that these damn machines won't give us enough time to think!

"You can't make a difference, " they chanted. More and more of them kept throwing themselves at us, despite Ran or Aphrodite tearing them apart before they could get close. They continued to destroy the machines but no matter how much they destroyed, even more would replace them. Sooner or later, the machines would overwhelm our Persona.

I need a way to hold these things back so I could think of a way to save Hiroki.

"Abandon all hope! You will never change the world!" They all yelled as they continued throwing themselves at us.

Chikako didn't look like she could take this anymore and neither could I.

After destroying so much of the mechanical Hiroki army, one machine finally got close enough to our Persona to attack. The machine stabbed Aphrodite in the shoulder with its fingers, somehow piercing through Persona's gold skin. Chikako cried out in pain as she held the same shoulder.

The machines took advantage of Chikako's pain and had more of their numbers focusing on taking out Aphrodite. They knew that Aphrodite was becoming weak faster than my Persona. Taking out the weaker opponent would make getting rid of the stronger one far easier. Aphrodite couldn't handle the increased forces coming after her and soon, the machines overpowered the Persona. All Aphrodite could do was protect herself as the machines trampled her underneath their feet.

The shield the Persona made that kept the machines from attacking us had fallen.

Machines crowded around Chikako, each one's hand shooting forward to grab any part of her.

"No! Let go of me!" Chikako screamed kicking one of the demons away when it grabbed her arm. No matter how much she resisted, there was just too many of them to fight back. Her limbs, hair, and clothing were being pulled by the machines. She screamed and resisted but the machines were too strong.

"I'm coming, Chikako!" I yelled kicking a machine aside.

My attempt to help Chikako, however, was easily struck down as the machines overpowered my Persona while my attention was on Chikako. Ran was being trampled underneath their feets and couldn't do anything. Both of our Persona were helpless and we were left defenseless against this massive army. The machines pulled on my body the same way they were pulling on Chikako. My arms and legs felt like they were being ripped out of my body as they continued to pull.

"We'll find a replacement for you!" The machines yelled in my ear. "No one is irreplacable! No one is special! There are no one-of-a-kind in this mechanical world! We can find replacements for anyone!"

"Is this really what you're afraid of, Hiroki?" Chikako cried over the yells of the machines. "Do you believe that if you disappear, somebody can just replace you? Human's aren't machines, Hiroki! Nobody can replace us!"

For a second, I saw the machines malfunction again, just the last time Chikako tried to speak to Hiroki. Somehow, Chikako's words were affecting these things and causing them to malfunction.

"I can't change anything," Hiroki's voice echoed throughout the factory. "This world won't change just because I'm trying to be important. I'm not an individual in this world, just one of its expendable parts. No one actually needs me..."

"Listen to me, Hiroki!" I yelled. I had a plan and at the moment, it was our only hope. "This whole world was created because you feel that you can't change the world. It's your own fears that's fueling these abominations! No matter how much you are afraid of it happening, there is no one that can replace you! There is only one Hiroki Tsubasa!"

My plan was working! The machines were losing strength and our Persona were able to escape the trampling being done to them. Sparks flew out of their joints and their movements were slowed down. Their body's jerked in different directions as more sparks flew out of them. We watched them malfunction while Ran and Aphrodite destroyed the machines holding us.

"She's lying!" A machine yelled.

"This cruel world can always replace me!" Another yelled.

"I'm not special!" Many of them screamed.

"Don't listen to them, Hiroki! They are the demon Legion created from your past," I yelled to wherever the real Hiroki was. "All they can say is your own insecurities and fears but Chikako and I are real! You can trust us! So hurry up and snap out of that trance they have you in and we can escape together!"

My words were affecting the demonic machines even more than I thought. Some of them exploded while others fell apart. The ones not falling apart or exploding were trying to move their bodies to stop us but they couldn't move normally. They either moved too slow or jerked their whole body forward, messing up their balance. Our words to the real Hiroki were affecting these machines by cutting off their power source or overloading them with the original's emotions.

"Stop!" They screamed. "We won't let you destroy..."

"One more push," I told Chikako.

My partner nodded and took in a deep breath before she delivered the last blow to these machines.

"Hiroki, you think you can't change the world but..." Tears trickled down her cheeks as she raised her voice. "If it weren't for you, I would have hung myself because of my guilt over causing Shizuka's suicide. You told me that I could work towards forgiveness, that I could still be forgiven despite what I did. You have no idea how much those words you said meant to me. So never say you can't make a difference anymore..."

"You made a difference in my world, Hiroki! And to me, there is only one Hiroki Tsubasa and no one can take your place!"

It sounded like an outright confession but it was the last blow we needed. The machine's power source was cut off completely, making each and every one of them fall apart. One by one, the machines fell apart until there was only one person left standing in the middle of the fallen army.

The real Hiroki looked away but I saw the tears trickling down his cheeks before he hid his face. Chikako's words had finally taken him out of the trance the demon Legion had placed him under.

Immediately after seeing the real Hiroki, Chikako dismissed Aphrodite and ran to him. She tackled the young man, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. Hiroki looked down at Chikako sobbing in his chest.

Hiroki looked up to see me staring at him. "Amaya-san..." he said.

"I would like to talk but I have a feeling it isn't over..."

"And you are right, Kimi Amaya!" Poseidon's voice yelled from the factory's speakers. "Legion is still alive and you made him mad enough to bring this out!"

The whole factory began to shake as something in the very far back of the factory came out of the walls. The thing was massive enough that even from the distance we were from it, we could still see it clearly. It looked like one massive oven that moved forward on a set of caterpillar treads. The thing was as tall as the ceiling of the factory and wide enough that it scraped the walls as it moved forward. Without warning, a long and giant vacuum hose came out of the back. A single click and everything in the factory was being pulled in by the factory.

Chikako screamed and Hiroki held her tighter but I hurried to their side, Ran jumping in front of us three. My Persona kept us planted to the ground while the broken machines around us were sucked into the strange vacuum. Conveyor belts, chairs, and the demonic machines were all sucked into the strange machine until the entire factory was left bare. A sense of dread came upon me as the sound of crunching came out of the giant machine. The crunching continued until the sound of a bell ringing came out.

The machine's door fell down, releasing a cloud of smoke.

"This won't be good," I said as the smoke cleared.

Loud sounds of marching echoed throughout the factory as dozens of figures marched down the giant machine's door. Taking a closer look, I found out that they were the mechanical Hiroki's that we had just gotten rid of but with one big difference...

This time around, the demonic machines had bodies made entirely out of a steel-like substance. Being fragile was their only weakness when we fought them but being remade with stronger materials canceled out that weakness, not to mention possibly giving them a drastic increase in strength. More of the new demons continued to march out of the giant machine.

"We are Legion 2.0!" the new army yelled. "Kill Kimi Amaya!"

Chikako and Hiroki looked at me.

I sighed. "Got to leave it to my luck to make a whole army out to kill me..."

Ran and I stood up and faced the army marching towards us.

"But nobody's going to kill me!" I declared.


	13. Chapter 13: Bow Before The Emperor

"Take your stance!" A single demon ordered.

The army of demonic machines made out of steel raised their arms to the ceiling and placed their other hand against the wrist of the raised arm. Their metal skin bubbled out of their wrists and quickly formed a bow and arrow. The army of machines continued by pulling back the strings of their bows.

"Arrow Rain!" The army yelled letting go of their strings.

Arrows fired from their bows, which soared across the factory until they began to fall down towards us. Ran swung her arms at the incoming arrows, hitting them down with torrents of salt water. Many of the arrows got past her torrents and somehow, the arrows were being led to us as if they were magnetically attracted to our bodies.

"I'll protect you, Hiroki!" Chikako yelled stepping in front of the man. "Persona!"

A flash of blue aura surrounded Chikako and out of the blue aura, her Persona Aphrodite appeared. Hiroki stared up at the Persona, obviously in awe of her beauty. Chikako's Persona flew in front of the two, using her own body to protect them from the arrows. The arrows bounced off her golden skin but two of the arrows pierced the Persona's left thigh, causing Chikako to flinch and grab the same thigh.

My Persona Ran had managed to dodge the arrows and protect me by swatting any arrows that could have hit me. My focus moved from the marching army to the injured Chikako.

"Are you okay?" I asked hurrying to her side.

"I can still fight," she said standing up and letting go of her hurting thigh. Even if she wasn't bleeding, she must still be feeling the same amount of pain Aphrodite was in. Including the damage she got from the previous army, I was impressed she was able to fight.

"There is no such thing as hope," the army chanted as they continued marching. "No matter how many of us fall, there will be replacements! Our lives have no meaning! We must follow our orders or be replaced!"

"Shut up!" I yelled back. "You demons can't affect Hiroki with your words anymore! So shut those metal traps of yours and fight!"

Ran flew towards the army, dodging the arrows they fired at her. My Persona swung her arms around above her head in a circle, firing her torrents of fresh water. The water rained on a part of the army, making them become drenched. The demonic machines ignored the water and continued firing their arrows at Ran.

I turned to Chikako. "Hit them with your strongest lightning," I told her.

"But they absorb-" Chikako stopped once she noticed the machines drenched with salt water. She gave me a smile as Aphrodite flew towards the army, slapping her hands together. Electricity surged through the Persona's arms, becoming stronger every time it circled around.

"Mazionga!" she yelled.

Aphrodite parted her hands, a massive ball of electricity forming between them. The Persona swung her hand back, the electricity following the hand, and swung it forward at the drenched part of the army. Arcs of lightning fired from Aphrodite's hand, striking the drenched demons the second after she released it. We both grinned as we watched the drenched demons explode, shortcircuiting from being electrified when wet. More of the wet demons exploded as the arcs of lightning tore through the army.

The dry part of the army, however, absorbed the lightning and continued their march.

"At least we have a better way to get rid of them," I said.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up so soon," Hiroki said pointing at the machines we destroyed.

To our surprise, the vacuum from the strange machine near the back of the factory extended to the fallen machines. A single click and every part of the demons were sucked back into the strange machine. Crunching sounds came out of the strange machine. The sound of a bell came out soon after, the strange machine's door falling down.

We gasped when the machines we had just destroyed marched out of the strange machine.

"That's what they mean when they said they would be replaced," Hiroki whispered. "That oven thing will fix them no matter how many of them are destroyed."

"Doesn't matter if we destroy that thing first!" I yelled.

Ran and Aphrodite flew across the factory until they were close enough to hit the strange machine with their spells.

"Bufula!" I yelled.

"Zionga!" Chikako yelled.

Ran fired a larger flash of light than the Bufu spell while Aphrodite fired a large arc of lightning. Our spells struck the door of the machine, causing an explosion of ice and lightning. Smoke from the explosion clouded our vision. It soon cleared, allowing us to see the results of our attacks.

But the machine didn't have a single scratch! Our spells didn't even dent the damn thing!

The strange machine continued to move forward on its treads but it didn't ignore us. The vacuum attached to it smacked our Persona into the ground. Chikako and I yelled out the resulting pain, both of us falling to our knees.

"Are you two alright?" Hiroki asked getting down on his knees.

The pain of being smacked into the ground by a large vacuum was quite high on the pain scale but despite that, I got back to my feet. We had no chance of escaping this nightmare unless we defeated the army of demonic machines in front of us. That meant we had to destroy the machine fixing them, no matter how strong the thing's defense was.

Chikako must have shared my feelings because she got back on her feet too. "I still have more than enough energy," she said looking at me. "How about you, Kimi?"

"Same here," I answered smiling. "This demon is going to regret messing with us, Chikako."

Ran and Aphrodite recovered, feeling our determination to defeat the demon Legion. They fired spells at the giant machine, hoping to cause some form of damage. The mechanical army noticed that the thing that would fix them in case they were destroyed, was being attacked. They took a single step to spin around and began marching back to the giant machine. Our Persona had to dodge both the giant machine's vacuum trying to smack them and the arrows fired by the army behind them.

"Why are you two trying so hard to save me?"

Chikako and I were surprised to hear the question come from Hiroki. We both turned to look at him. His expression showed his feelings of helplessness as well as trying to understand why we were so determined to keep fighting.

It didn't take long for me to answer him.

"Because I want to save you," I answered. "Nobody deserves to have their wounds reopened by this sadistic god for who knows what he's got planned..."

"But Chikako is here for a different reason," I added grinning.

"Kimi!" Chikako yelled her face turning a bright shade of red. I chuckled while she tried to regain her composure. She answered Hiroki's question despite her face still being a bright shade of red.

"You save me before with your words," she said. "So it's my turn to save you, Hiroki!"

Hiroki looked down at us with eyes beginning to tear up. "Thank you," he whispered taking off his glasses and wiping his tears away.

I felt a little stronger hearing the thanks from Hiroki, enough to feel our hearts bond.

Time stopped and I heard the familiar voice speak in my head.

_Thou art I... and I am thou..._

_Thou hast established a genuine bond..._

_It brings thou closer to a new life..._

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Persona of the Emperor Arcana..._

Time restarted...

And I was surprised to see the familiar blue aura flash around Hiroki. The young man gritted his teeth and stepped in front of us. He opened his mouth, taking in as deep a breath as he could, and yelled at the demon Legion created from his past.

"You demons are right! I can't change the world!" He yelled.

Chikako and I took a step back, surprised Hiroki had said that. The army of machines stopped their attack on our Persona in order, almost looking glad Hiroki had accepted their words...

But the man wasn't finished.

"But there hasn't been a single man who could change the world by himself! No matter how smart or strong he was!" He continued the blue aura around him growing in strength. "I am not alone! I can change the world because I have new friends that will help me! I don't have to worry about being replaced anymore! This world will recognize me as the one and only Hiroki Tsubasa!"

The army of machines must have been angered by Hiroki's words because they turn their focus back on us. Instead of marching like they were before, the whole army charge at us like a wild stampede. Their bows morphed into swords and spears, which they either threw or shook while screaming their usual yells.

"You can't change the world!" they screamed. "You are not special! You will be replaced! NOTHING WILL EVER CHANGE!"

"Magarula..."

Right in front of their stampede, a massive green tornado formed and lifted the machines off the ground and into the air. They were torn to metal shreds inside the tornado. The remaining demons stopped their stampede, knowing they would be destroyed if they tried to continue through the tornado.

When the dust created by the tornado cleared, Hiroki's Persona became visible.

Hiroki's Persona was a machine like the demons but his Persona's glinting grey body had a far tougher appearance. The Persona only wore what looked like feathers fashioned into a piece of clothing around his waist, the rest of his muscular body left bare. A tiny anhk hung off the bangs of his shoulder length black hair. Metallic wings spread out to their full width, being wide enough to protect all three of us if Hiroki wanted. Hiroki's Persona gave out a sense of immense strength and the machines could feel it too, the army not moving any closer to us.

"Thou art I... and I art thou..." Hiroki's Persona said in a mechanical voice. It raised its arms as it continued. "I am Shu, god of the air itself! All shall lower themselves in the presence of the king!"

Hiroki pushed up his glasses. "You know what to do, Shu."

Shu flapped his wings, shooting himself towards the army with just that one flap. The demonic machines struck Shu with their swords and spears but their weapons broke the moment they struck his stronger body. The Persona flapped his wings in the middle of the remaining army, creating another smaller tornado when it did. Almost every demon in the army was wrecked by the tornado, their left over parts being flung across the factory. The ones that survived had their heads crushed in Shu's hands or crushed underneath his feet.

"So strong," Chikako whispered in awe of the strength Hiroki's Persona had.

"Focus on the thing fixing them!" Hiroki ordered.

The vacuum of the giant machine already began to suck up the destroyed army. Our Persona, however, were going to make sure that it couldn't revive the army. Shu hurried to our Persona's side and with all three of our Persona together, we each used the strongest spell we could use.

"Bufula!"

"Zionga!"

"Garula!"

All our spells combined and stuck the giant machine, creating a far larger explosion than before. There was only a ringing sound in my ears as the smoke blocked our vision of the giant machine. Silence until we heard the sounds of loud engines...

The giant machine rode out of the cloud of smoke, moving as fast and as strong as a tank. Our Persona braced themselves as the machine struck them. The machine stopped in its tracks but it kept on All three of us were feeling the massive power of the giant machine trying to crush our Persona under it.

"Um, guys, I just noticed something we should have noticed earlier..." Chikako said sounding afraid.

"What is it, Chikako?" I asked feeling my arm's muscles being ripped apart.

"That thing is moving towards us, right? Well, look at its size..." she answered pointing at the machine.

Hiroki and I looked at the machine, not seeing what Chikako noticed but it didn't take long for us to see it.

"There's no way to get behind it!" Hiroki realized.

There wasn't enough space around the giant machine for a human to squeeze through. That was the reason it was slowly moving towards us. If we didn't stop it in time, we would have no way to escape being crushed. We only shortened our own time by attacking it, forcing it to increase the speed it moved.

To add to our troubles, a smaller door appeared when the larger couldn't be opened because of our Persona. The demonic machines marched out one by one until the army of machines had been revived.

"What a cheap bastard," I whispered falling to my knee. "Taking us out when we can't fight back."

The machines formed their bows and arrows and began firing them at our Persona. Chikako and Hiroki yelled out in pain as arrows struck the backs of their Persona. Ran tried to protect herself from the arrows by swatting them away with a torrent of water but a few still struck her in the legs. I gritted my teeth as pain shot into my legs.

"No matter how much you want it to change, this world will not listen!" The army yelled as they continued to fire arrows at us. Some of the machines stopped firing arrows and began using themselves as ladders to get to our Persona. All three of our Persona were soon being struck by their fists and fired at with arrows.

"Let go! Accept your role in this world! Someone will replace you!" They chanted as they continued their attack.

Shut up! I don't want to listen to that crap anymore!

"Come on, Ran, I know you can do it..." I whispered hoping it will strengthen my Persona.

Nothing happened other than the machine slowly beginning to overpower our Persona. It began to inch forward but it was moving. Unless we could overpower it, we would be crushed between these demonic machines and it. The machines didn't care about being crushed, they would simply be repaired afterwards. Us, on the other hand, would become bloody gore against the walls.

"I can't lose now," Hiroki said. "Not after saying I'll change the world..."

"I won't let Hiroki or Kimi die," Chikako said unable to stand up due to pain. "I won't let the ones I love die..."

The two were doing their best to keep up their strength by motivating themselves with words but even our own words were being drowned by the chanting of the army. They knew we were going to lose and reveled in it by repeating everything they yelled over and over to lower our morale. Hiroki and Chikako looked as if they were being affected by their words.

But none of their words are going to work on me!

"I'm will not be helpless again..." I whispered.

I refused to feel like the time I first entered the Nostalgia Line. I refuse to be saved by someone else again! This is my fight and I will win!

I will not lose to these machines!

_Then you know what to do, Kimi Amaya..._

For a second, I was surprised to hear a voice in my head but it was right, I did know what to do.

I swung my hand in front of me and once again, that blue aura surrounded my body. Chikako and Hiroki watched as the blue aura grew stronger around me. I felt my emotions rising until they were about to explode. Instead of exploding, I used my emotions to focus the blue aura in front of my hand. Ran had the blue aura surrounding her as well while my own grew even larger.

"Hold that thing back!" I yelled to my comrades.

Chikako and Hiroki looked like they didn't understand what was going on but they nodded. After they nodded, my Persona Ran flew away from the giant machine, causing Aphrodite and Shu to use far more strength to hold it back.

"Persona..." I yelled my voice causing the blue aura to explode in strength. "CHANGE!"

The Fool Arcana card appeared behind Ran and spun quickly, making Ran disappear inside the card. The card continued spinning until it was no longer the Fool Arcana that was spinning but the Emperor Arcana. The card slowed down and a figure began to form in the middle of the spinning card.

"Attack! Don't let them have hope!" The machines yelled jumping at the spinning card, raising their swords and spears to cut or pierce it.

But they were too late. My new Persona had already unsheathed his own sword...

Swift swings of glinting steel surrounded the area around my new Persona, slicing the machines nearby into scrap metal. The blue aura swirled like a whirlpool around my new Persona while the rest of it became solid. Wooden sandels walked out of whirlpool of blue aura, black and white fabric swaying amongst the whirlpool. My new Persona sheathed his katana and came into view once the blue aura dissipated.

"W-what is that!" Chikako yelled unable to hide her awe of my new Persona.

The Persona was a man clothed in a black and white kimono with a Jingasa hat atop his head. His skin was a dark black with only two glowing white lights for eyes. Two katanas in their sheaths hung from his sides. My new Persona let out a small breath, letting me know it was ready to fight.

"Musashi! Blades of Fury!" I ordered.

My new Persona Musashi nodded and placed his hands on the handles of his katanas. Slowly taking them out of their sheaths, Musashi released a feeling of imminent death to the demonic machines. They stepped away from Musashi but it was pointless once he unsheathed his katanas. Musashi swung his katanas at the army of machines, releasing a sharp shockwave that sliced every one of them in half. Before gravity made the upper halfs fall, Musashi released another shockwave that sliced them into fours and yet another two that turned them into eight separate pieces.

With the army finished, Musashi turned to the tank-like machine.

"Musashi! Cut that damn thing in half!" I yelled grinning. "Power Slash!"

Musashi sheathed one of his katanas and held the remaining one with his two hands. He raised the blade into the air above him. The sword hung in the air for as long as Musashi wanted it to while the giant machine was getting closer to the Persona.

Musashi swung his blade down the moment the machine got close. A massive shockwave ripped through the machine's front and continued until it came out of the back, cutting it into two clean halves. Its treads slowed down to a stop as the red and black smoke seeped out of the cut. Musashi tipped his hat to the demon he had sliced in half and sheathed his sword.

Legion exploded into a cloud of red and black smoke that filled the whole factory.

Once the cloud of red and black cleared away, Musashi disappeared. There was a moment of silence before Chikako and Hiroki both started laughing, crying, and hugging me with all their remaining strength. I felt like my bones would break from how tightly they hugged me.

"That was amazing, Amaya-san!" Hiroki laughed.

"I always knew you were great, Kimi!" Chikako cried.

I almost felt like crying with them but then a voice interrupted our celebration.

"Please, it'll hurt more if you try," Hiroki's voice said. "Accept how this world works and we won't have to be hurt when we're replaced..."

All three of us turned to the only Hiroki machine that was left. It was only the torso of the machine, its legs sliced off by Musashi. It was falling apart quickly but it held on to whatever energy it had left to speak to Hiroki. The only arm it had left clawed at the ground in front of it while it spoke.

"I'll be replaced sooner or later," it cried. "It's only a matter of time before this world replaces me when I'm no longer useful..."

"I'm sorry but I won't ever be replaced," Hiroki told his demon. "I will get rid of the world that believes anyone can be replaced. This world will change because of me..." Hiroki shook his head and looked at us. "No, it's us, isn't it? I will make a difference in this world with the help of my new friends."

I smiled at him while Chikako wiped her tears with her sleeve.

To our surprise, the mechanical Hiroki chuckled at us.

"That's the spirit..." it chuckled beginning to power down.

The last Legion machine was gone, meaning the demon made from Hiroki's past was finally defeated. The world created from his past was going to break apart now that the demon keeping it together was destroyed.

The factory started to rumble as large fissures appeared. We forgot about celebrating our victory as we hurried to the exit. Chikako took Hiroki's arm and led him with me to the tunnel leading to the exit. The partition that blocked our path before was slowly rising up. Even while running, I could see the black shoes of the person on the other side.

"NO! I WON"T LET YOU ESCAPE, KIMI AMAYA!" Poseidon screamed over the sounds of the falling apart world.

A trident struck my leg, pinning it to the floor.

"Kimi!" Chikako yelled stopping. "Don't worry, we'll help you out!"

Chikako and Hiroki tried to grab the trident but the moment they made contact with it, they pulled their hands back. Both of their hands were burned by the trident. The trident wouldn't let anyone but the god of the sea himself to touch it. I tried to slip my foot out but stopped once I saw the god of the sea stomping his way towards us. Sea water roared behind Poseidon as he made his way towards me.

"I will kill you!" the god said through his teeth. "I will rip out that heart of yours myself! Kimi Amaya will die by my hands!"

"Persona!" Chikako and Hiroki yelled.

Aphrodite and Shu leapt at Poseidon the moment they were summoned, firing arcs of lightning and tornados at the god. Poseidon had let the spells hit him and continued walking, not slowing at all from the attacks the two Persona threw at him.

"It's no use," Chikako said.

"We're too weak from our fight to bring out any real power," Hiroki added.

I tried to bring out Musashi but my Persona didn't appear. I didn't have enough energy to even summon the Persona. Changing Persona must take up a lot more energy than using your own.

"Nobody will escape," Poseidon growled. "Every human here will die!"

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, that would best to explain our situation at the moment. None of us had enough energy to fight the god and the exit wasn't finished raising, not to mention me being trapped by this stupid trident.

"Die, Kimi Amaya!"

Poseidon swung his hand forward, making the tremendous amount of sea water behind flood the tunnel. I closed my eyes at the incoming wave of water...

"Metatron!"

Following after the sound of glass shattering, A metallic figure with wings appeared in front of us with a flash of blue aura. The angel-like metallic being spread out his wings to protect us from the wave of sea water. The water touched the metal angel but the moment it touched the angel, some kind of shield appeared and reflected the water back to the god.

"What the hell!" Poseidon yelled as the water struck him but didn't hurt him. He was more surprised the metal angel had reflected his attack.

"God's Hand!"

The metal angel Metatron slammed its foot into the ground and swung its fist forward, summoning a much larger golden fist. The golden fist tore through the tunnel until it struck Poseidon, sending him flying back into the crumbling factory. The tunnel fell apart around the factory's exit, preventing Poseidon from coming back.

With the threat removed, the angel Metatron pulled the trident pinning me out of the ground and disappeared, leaving behind a card surrounded in blue aura that soon disappeared with the angel.

"Kimi Amaya?" the voice of the one who rescued us asked.

I turned my head around to the person who standing on the other side of the partition. It was a young man that looked to be the same age as Yosuke. He wore a short-sleeved white shirt with brown pants, clothes one would wear in Umizuo's hot weather. One thing I noticed about him was his hair.

His hair was grey...

"Narukami Yu," he introduced himself. "Yosuke sent me to help."


	14. Chapter 14: Helping the Fool

"I don't care who you are! We got to get out of here and fast!" I yelled running past Yu, Chikako and Hiroki following behind me. Yu must have gotten the message since I heard a fourth pair of feet running with us.

We continued to run along the steel tunnel, the sounds of the crumbling factory dying behind us. Soon, the steel tunnel disappeared and we were inside the normal dark and rocky tunnel. Our running continued until we saw the light at the end. All four of us sprinted out of the tunnel, stopping once we could see the setting sun in the distance. Both Hiroki and Chikako collapsed on the ground, taking deep breathes as they rested. I fell to my knees and turned my head to Yu, who didn't look a bit tired.

"Oh, you guys finally came out," I heard Fuuka's voice say.

I turned my head again to see the modest Fuuka running from her parked car towards us. She stopped to check on Chikako and Hiroki, seeing if they had any injuries. It took her a few minutes to check but I knew she didn't find anything that couldn't be treated with a first aid kit.

"I'll get my first aid, Narukami-san," Fuuka said looking at the young man. "You check if Amaya-san has anything serious."

"Alright," he said turning to me.

"I'm fine," I told him. To prove I didn't any immediate care, I stood up and patted the dirt off my skirt. "My Persona Ran is made out of water and ice, so anything physical couldn't have hurt me. My friends are the ones that need help..."

Yu, instead of believing that I was fine, held out his hand to me, handing me a chocolate bar. I took the bar of chocolate from him and studied it, wondering if there was something suspicious about it. My eyes saw nothing out of the ordinary about the chocolate bar, it was just a candy bar bought from any store.

"Eat it," Yu said. "Using the Wild Card's power increases the strain of using Persona."

"And why's that?" I asked ripping the wrapper off the chocolate. I tore off a block and ate it while he answered.

"Using a Persona that isn't your own requires increased mental control, increasing the energy needed to keep the Persona summoned," he answered.

In less than a minute, I already consumed the whole chocolate bar. Yu was right about the changing Persona used more energy since at the moment, I was starving. The chocolate I ate didn't do much to hold back the growling of my stomach.

"Let me ask you another question," I said hiding the growling of my stomach. "That angel you summoned in that world, it's name was Metatron, right? Well, what I want to know..."

Yu stared at me, his expression not changing a bit, as I asked my question.

"How did you get your Persona to be so strong?" I asked.

To my surprise, Yu's expression lightened up and his lips curved to make a small smile. A sudden feeling of intense heat filled my face and my heart began to beat faster. I didn't notice it before because of the situation in the other world but now in that I was no longer in danger of being killed...

Narukami Yu had to be the most handsome man I have ever seen in my life. Saying that meant a lot since I have met a lot of big-name actors coming to art shows that Sasaki brought me to, many of them being famous just because of their looks.

"I can't tell you the answer," he told me. "You'll have to find it yourself, Amaya-san."

And there goes my attraction to the man, it being replaced by a extreme feeling of irritation.

"But I have something that might work," Yu said going through his pockets.

Expecting something mysterious, Yu instead put on the glasses he took out of his pockets. I couldn't hide my confusion while I stared at the joke glasses the man wore. Even more confusing was that Yu's expression still didn't change underneath those glasses. Soon, I found myself chuckling at the strange sight of seeing someone like Narukami Yu wearing something ridiculous like those glasses.

Yu smiled at me again. "You are much more beautiful when you smile, Amaya-san," Yu said.

My face once again felt like it had been set on fire.

I don't know how to explain Narukami Yu. Every time I tried to understand him, he did something unexpected or confusing. He had a weird sense of humor but could injure the god of the sea with his Persona, not to mention his otherworldly ability to charm the opposite gender. Everything about this young man seemed to want to confuse me.

"Stop thinking so much," Yu said. My expression must've shown how much I was trying to understand his behavior. "That's the only advice I can give you, Amaya-san. Igor can tell you more about it when you see him..."

"I'm done," Fuuka said after finishing her first aid on Hiroki. "Can you help me carry them to my car, Narukami-san?"

Yu gave me one last look before he went to help Fuuka.

"Go to the Velvet Room whenever you can after we are done, Amaya-san," he told me before hurrying to help Fuuka carry my friends.

...

After Yu had carried my friends into Fuuka's car, we were given a ride to the repair shop that Fuuka managed in the middle of the town. Hiroki and Chikako each took a seat in the chairs in Fuuka's store while I took a seat at the table with Yosuke, who had been let out of the hospitol just recently. Yu had said he some other business to take care of and couldn't be present while we talked.

"So, what do you think of my best friend, Kimi?" Yosuke asked as he rested his cast on the table.

"Can't explain him," I answered taking a sip of tea from the cup given to me. "It's like everything he does is meant to confuse everyone looking."

"I can't argue with that," he chuckled. "Yu has been like that for as long as I knew him. He's either acting like that because of his weird sense of humor or because that's the kind of guy he is. People still found themselves attracted to him, despite that personality of his. I can't tell you how many times that personality of his has helped people."

"He's pretty hot too," I added.

"Don't remind me," he sighed. "He was pretty popular with the girls back in high school..."

"While you were...?"

"Let's not talk about my high school popularity," Yosuke said obviously wanting to change the subject.

"Girls must have beaten you a lot," I said smiling.

"Anyways, congratulations on saving someone else from the Nostalgia Line's world," Yosuke said ignoring my last comment. "It was harder this time, wasn't it?"

"This time the demon was created because of Hiroki's fears that the world would replace him and that he couldn't change it," I told him. "He had some nightmare in the past that ended up being his worst memory..."

"Nightmares only happen if something in real life scared you," Hiroki told me getting out of the chair and taking a seat with us at the table. "The only reason I had that nightmare is because my mother took me to her work at the factory once..."

Yosuke and I listened while Hiroki told us the cause of his nightmare.

"It happened before my mother remarried and she was working in a factory to help pay for our apartment and my school," he told us. "When my mother brought me to the factory one day because our usual babysitter couldn't come, I got a look at the people that worked there. I was only eight years old at the time but I could easily tell the expression every single one of those workers on the factory line had..."

Hiroki choked for a second but continued. "Every single one of them had a emotionless expression," he managed to let out. "Now that I'm older, I can understand getting rid of emotions to make the boring work easier but when I was smaller, seeing so many people with those dead expressions terrified me. And to make things worse, that was the day one of the employees made a mistake and got fired because of it. It didn't even take them half of an hour to replace him with someone else."

A quick glance at Chikako showed me that she was listening to Hiroki's story and quietly crying.

"That night was when I had the nightmare," Hiroki said. "I dreamed that I was inside a factory that mass produced a useless lump of metal and that the ones working were all me with the same dead expression those employees had. That nightmare scared me so much that I didn't let go of my mother until it was morning. I forgot about the nightmare as I got older but I didn't forget the fear of someone replacing me one day, that I won't make a difference and someone will have to take my place. I became the Student Council President because I thought I could make a difference that way but I had no power other than deciding the club's budget and other jobs of minimal importance."

"That's rough, Tsubasa-san," Yosuke said. "That nightmare must have really traumatized you."

"It was enough to completely put me in a trance while I was inside in that world," Hiroki said. "If it wasn't for Amaya-san and Kimura-san's words, that demon would have worked me to death. That demon Legion was created from my fears but thanks to these two, I finally feel like I can begin putting it behind me."

"Strange that this Nostalgia Line world is so much like the Midnight Channel world," Yosuke said stroking his chin. "There were whole castles created in the Midnight Channel from the feelings the person was hiding from the world..."

"What are you getting at?" I asked. "That the Nostalgia Line and the Midnight Channel have a connection?"

"Well, the more similarities I see, the more differences I also find," he answered still looking puzzled. "Calling the Nostalgia Line causes the phone to pull you into its world but someone else had to push inside the Midnight Channel. Once there, it took the person rejecting the Shadow for it to attack them and then when it was defeated, the person had to accept it to obtain their Persona. The Nostalgia Line, however, makes a Shadow that attacks the person the moment they enter and rejecting them lets you obtain your Persona..."

"It only led to more questions about the Nostalgia Line," Fuuka said placing the snacks she prepared in the middle of the table. She turned to me. "Ever since you came to Umizuo, Amaya-san, nobody has lost their memories or ended up dead. But the person behind all this wants your heart for some reason and I don't think you coming to Umizuo was just a coincedence, it had to be planned as well. Someone needs you in this town for some kind of plan, Amaya-san, but the question is why do they your heart and what are they planning if they obtain it?"

"Poseidon knows," I said. "Maybe we can get it out of him?"

"Poseidon? You mean the Greek god of the sea?" Hiroki asked.

"Remember that guy who almost killed us when we were escaping? Well, that's Poseidon, the actual god of the sea," I answered.

It took him a while to realize it but he reached the conclusion quickly. "We're fighting an actual god!" he yelled.

"Not that surprising to us," Yosuke said pointing at him and Fuuka. "We both fought gods when we were younger. I helped my best friend Yu fight against Izanami, one of Japan's creators."

"My friends and I all helped our leader defeat the goddess of the night, Nyx," Fuuka added. "We even defeated the god Erebus thanks to our friend Aegis."

"The point being, even though they are gods, they are not invincible," Yosuke told Hiroki. "But I guess only my partner Yu would understand since he was the one who defeated Izanami. The rest of us were almost killed..."

"And our leader's still protecting everyone from Nyx and Erebus..." Fuuka said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

I could tell from the tone of their voices that while defeating a god was possible, it wasn't easy to do so. A god wouldn't be called a god if they could be easily defeated. If we continued to stop the Nostalgia Line from taking anymore victim's memories or life, that meant we would have to fight Poseidon and defeat him. Our fight with the god that ruled over the vast ocean would happen sooner or later if we chose to keep saving people. It was only a matter of time before Poseidon decided to fight himself instead of letting a demon try to kill me.

"Narukami-san would help us but he has college to focus on," Yosuke said. "I was lucky that he had the week free when I called. From what I heard from you Kimi, you three would have been killed by that Poseidon if my partner hadn't saved you. Having someone like him would make fighting the god a lot easier but he can't stay longer than a few days."

"College is more important than saving the world?" Hiroki said asking the same question I was thinking of.

"It's not that," Fuuka answered smiling. "I think it has more to do with Amaya-san here. Narukami-san must have seen the potential she has and decided that this town will safe without his help. I know he must be right since both you and him have the same feeling as our leader Minato. You even have the same ability to change Persona, something only our friend Aegis managed to obtain for a short time."

It didn't make sense how these two thought I was the same as Narukami Yu and Fuuka's friend Minato. I don't have the determination or strength it takes to defeat a god, something Yu and Minato had to have to defeat a deity. Using Musashi did make me feel a lot stronger and I'm sure if I use the other Arcana Persona, I would be even stronger, but that still didn't let me believe I could defeat a god. Narukami Yu and Minato both had that something that let them challenge gods but I was only willing to fight them long enough to escape.

I felt someone's arms hug me from behind and it was then that I noticed that my fear of fighting the gods must have been obvious.

"We'll defeat Poseidon and whoever's causing this, Kimi," Chikako said hugging me.

"You can count on me, Amaya-san," Hiroki added. "I won't let anyone else lose themselves to their pasts like I was. I'll help you and Chikako save them."

"Looks like you're getting your own group of friends, Amaya-san," Fuuka chuckled. "I'll try to find a way I can help you guys when you're inside the Nostalgia Line's world. My Persona, Juno, will be a great help to you if I can manage to get past that barrier."

"I'm not the type of person who stays out of the fight either," Yosuke said grinning. "If Fuuka can bypass that barrier, you can count on my Persona to destroy whatever's on the other side! You'll find out the reason why I'm called the second coolest man of Inaba when I get the chance!"

I gave a small smile upon hearing the four basically saying they'll have my back when I fight Poseidon and whoever is causing this supernatural threat to Umizuo. I felt myself become closer to this group of friends and that no matter what happens in the future, I can trust any one of them with my life.

The moment of bonding ended once I noticed the clock.

It was over ten minutes past the time Sasaki was supposed to pick me up.

"I have to go!" I yelled getting up quickly and running to the door.

The four all looked at me with confusion but I had to hurry or else Sasaki was going to punish me. Sasaki's punishments were usually very tiring and sometimes included moving her heavy paint supplies and canvas around. I was already exhausted and did not want to be forced into free physical labor. I apologized for my sudden leave and hurried to the spot where I waited for my guardian.

It took me a whole fifteen minutes to sprint there but I didn't see my guardian's van parked there or anyone nearby. While I rested my burning legs and took deep breaths, I looked around for any sign of my guardian's van.

In another ten minutes, I saw Sasaki's van drive up and stop in front of me. Taking my spot next to my guardian, I asked the question I had for the last ten minutes.

"What took you-" I stopped once I noticed the red and puffy eyes Sasaki had, as if she had been crying recently.

"I'm sorry it took me longer to pick you up, Kimi-chan," she weakly laughed. "Got some paint in my eyes, you see. Had to spend a lot of time rinsing to make sure I don't get anything..."

It was a weak lie and I knew it. Sasaki had been crying and that was the reason she was late. I didn't blame her, however, for being late because she had been crying. My mother, her best friend, had just died with my father almost two months ago and neither of us were over it, no matter how much Sasaki acted like her normal self.

It was a silent ride to our home and as much as I would have liked to fall asleep there, I couldn't let Sasaki continue like this without my support.

"Aunt Sasaki?" I said glancing over at my guardian. "Would you like to talk?"

"Talk? About w-what, Kimi-chan?" she responded trying to hide the cracking of her voice.

"Tell me something about my mom," I told her.

"Your mom and me were almost like sisters," Sasaki said ready to start crying again. "Kaede used to be such a crybaby when we were little and would only play when I could because all the boys loved to pick on her. Even when we became high school students, Kaede hid behind me and would only talk when I was nearby. I didn't mind protecting her though, cause she really did feel like my little sister sometimes. That shy personality of hers only went away when she met that father of yours at a writers convention a few years after high school. I felt like Jun-san was taking my little sister away from me but over time, I understood that he was the right man for Kaede, that he could take my place to protect her..."

Tears fell down Sasaki's cheeks while she drove up the driveway to our home but stopped halfway up.

"Why didn't I accept the invitation Kaede gave me?" Sasaki cried into the driver's wheel. "I could have protected my little sister and her husband... I could have made sure their daughter didn't lose her parents..."

I placed my hand against her back and watched as she continued to cry. My eyes were dying to close and let my body rest but my guardian needed the daughter of her best friend to comfort her. Today, I learned that Sasaki viewed my mother as her little sister that she had to protect and her regret for not accepting an invitation that might have allowed her to prevent my parent's death. I felt like I understood the woman that became my guardian after my parent's death just a little better than I did before.

"I'll cook tonight, Aunt Sasaki," I said in my best comforting voice. "How does the Amaya Special dish my mom taught me sound?"

"Your mom only taught you that dish because it was my favorite," Sasaki chuckled.

Thinking about my mission to save Umizuo from the Nostalgia Line and the earned rest from saving Hiroki would have to wait...

I have to comfort my mother's best friend first.


	15. Chapter 15: Lovers in the Chariot

Three days after saving Hiroki...

"All right, senior members may begin the drills," the teacher yelled after blowing her whistle. "New members keep juggling those soocer balls until I say you're done."

While the senior members of the soccer club dropped the soccer balls they had been juggling for the last twenty minutes, I stayed behind with the other four new members of the soccer club. My knees and feet were getting sore from keeping this soccer ball in the air but at least I was in a sports club.

Why did I need to be in a sports club?

Well, the answer to that question can easily be blamed on the child that seemed to love giving me orders in the form of text messages. Yesterday morning, I received another cryptic text message only saying 'Become a member of a sports club' and nothing else. Our high school did require that the students enter a club but I was already in the Occult Club, thanks to Chikako. I ignored the text but the moment I tried to leave the school grounds, I was attacked by dozens of paper planes, each one saying the same written message as the text. Irene must have been having a laughing fit while I was forced to go back into the school and get a application form for the sport clubs. It took me a while to decide but I finally picked to join the soccer club.

But now that I was wearing the uniforms given to the soccer club members, I was greatly regretting my decision not picking the archery club instead. The shirt part of the uniform wasn't bad but the shorts were just a bit too... short. They were tight around my thighs, making them look larger. It took a while for me to shut out the embarrassment of wearing these shorts and focus on keeping the soccer ball in the air with only my legs, despite giving anyone viewing me a good look at my legs each time I kicked the ball back into the air.

"Wow, you're good at this..." A girl's amazed voice said.

The voice came from the new soccer club member that was next to me, a girl with a tiny body that made her look a little older than a child compared to my much more mature body. Her tiny body, however, made that face of hers much more cuter. Her long chocolate brown hair got messier while the girl tried to juggle the soccer ball as much as I could. She dropped the ball almost every time she juggled it for more than two seconds

"I can't juggle it for that long," the girl laughed.

"You're focusing on the ball too much," I said watching her continue. She stopped her juggling and watched as I continued juggling my soccer ball. "Got to keep your focus on your legs and ball at the same time to make sure you don't kick the ball too strong or let it hit at a bad angle."

The girl watched me continue kicking the ball into the air over and over, amazed I could keep it up for over a minute.

"But it takes time before you can get this good," I told her. "I played soccer before when I was smaller and I still remember how to do this."

The girl smiled at me and gave me a small bow. "I'm Asuka Arai, a first-year," she introduced herself.

"Kimi Amaya, a second-year," I said giving her a small bow too.

"Second-year! Then why are you still with us new members?" Asuka asked surprised at hearing that I was her senpai. "Shouldn't you be with the senior members of the soccer club?"

"I just joined this club..." I answered. "And it's been some time since I last played soccer. I need to relearn some of the basics before I can start playing with the older members."

"Were you good?" She asked.

I could see where this was going but I didn't mind. "One of the starting players in my middle school team," I answered smiling.

For some reason, I liked the way this girl was staring at me. For the first time in my life, I knew what it like to be the senpai to another student. Asuka might've wanted something from me but at least she was amazed to hear how good I used to be a soccer.

Asuka turned her focus back to her soccer ball but still couldn't juggle it for longer than a few seconds."You must be one of those people born with all the talent in the world, senpai," she said trying harder at juggling. "Not like me, I have to try my hardest just to pass the exams with an acceptable score or even just to focus on the teacher's lecture. I don't have the brain for school work so I thought I might have the body for sports..."

"But as you can see, I can't do one of the most basic soccer training," she said.

Looking at her body, I saw that she wasn't suited for any sports with that small and thin body. She was more suited to the hobbies that required smaller hands or maybe one that wasn't physical at all.

"Why did you join the soccer club if you knew about your body?" I asked.

Asuka smiled at me, dropping the soccer ball again. "Because I love soccer," she answered. "I loved kicking soccer balls when I was smaller but I didn't know much about the other things in soccer. I thought soccer was only about kicking the ball into the opponent's net until I got older..."

She chuckled. "You know, I pictured I would be a lot taller and stronger when I got older," she chuckled. "But instead I didn't grow at all. I only kept this small body..."

So this was the reason Irene wanted me to join a sports club. She must've known about my past playing sports, mostly kendo and soccer, and found this girl. She wanted me to join the soccer club so I could help my kouhai.

"Hey, just because you have a small body, doesn't mean you can't become good at soccer," I told Asuka.

"Really?" She asked her eyes focused entirely on me.

"Listen, Asuka-chan," I said. "I'll help you become better at soccer whenever I can. It's the least I can do as your Senpai."

Asuka stared at me with both amazement and gratitude. She was obviously glad to have someone like me help her out. It might've been because of Irene that I met Asuka but it was my choice that I decided to help the small girl.

I felt a faint bond forming between myself and my kouhai, the small girl who loved soccer.

_Thou art I... and I am thou..._

_Thou hast established a genuine bond..._

_It brings you closer to a new life..._

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Persona of the Chariot Arcana..._

Time restarted and I jumped when the soccer club's coach yelled at me and Asuka.

"Stop talking and keep doing what I told you to do!" she yelled.

"I'll see you later, Senpai," Asuka whispered to me before putting her whole focus on the soccer ball in front of her.

I nodded at my kouhai and did the same as her, turning my entire attention back to the soccer ball.

I kept kicking that soccer ball into the air and did that until my focus was shattered by the tapping of a finger against my shoulder. I dropped the ball and spun around to see Hiroki standing behind him, his head looking up at the sky. The student council president couldn't look me in the eyes when he spoke.

"Could you come to the council room with me, Amaya-san," he said still looking upwards. "I have some important news about the Occult club and its members that I must tell you about as soon as possible."

I heard what he said but my attention was on why he was looking up, refusing to lower his gaze. "Why are you looking up, Tsubasa-san?"

"Because of..." Hiroki whispered trying to make sure I was the only one who heard him. "The clothing of the members..."

He was looking up because of the shorts we soccer club members were wearing. "I know," I told him. "These shorts are just too short and tight, they're just a little longer than bloomers. I mean, look how big they make my thighs look..."

"Please come to the student council room, Amaya-san," he said trying to hide his red face. "The quicker you can leave, the better."

"Alright but I have to keep this on," I said pointing at my soccer club clothing. "We can't change out of our clothes until the teacher unlocks the girl's locker room. You know, so nobody steals our clothing..."

"That's fine," he said. "What I'm going to tell you is much more important than what you are wearing."

I gave Hiroki a nod and followed the young man off the soccer field and back into the school building. I could feel the stare of the few male students that we passed looking at my legs and behind as we walked. Under normal circumstances, I would have called them out for being perverts but I had experience dealing with staring since I got a part-time job at Satoshi's cafe, I had enough courage to walk around the school halls while wearing something as small as these shorts.

It didn't take long for us to reach the student council room. Hiroki unlocked the door and led me inside, where I saw Chikako sitting at the small round table in the middle of the room. I sat down next to her, ignoring the cold feel of the plastic chair against my thighs, and turned my head to my friend.

"Got any idea why Hiroki called us?" I asked her.

"Nothing, Kimi," she answered shaking her head.

Hiroki took a seat with us at the table and sighed. "I'm sorry to say this, expecially after what you two went through because of me but remember this is my duty as the student council President..."

"What are you trying to say, Tsubasa-san?" I asked.

Hiroki sighed again. "I'm saying that I will have to disband the Occult Club..."

Chikako broke out in tears the moment Hiroki told us what he had to do. I hugged the crying Chikako while I spoke what we both were thinking.

"We saved your life, Tsubasa-san! This is how you repay us?" I yelled. "The Occult Club means a lot to Chikako! Can't you at least pull some strings?"

"Believe me, I tried," he told us. "The teacher in charge of the club doesn't even remember he's in charge of it and there aren't enough members. As the student council president, I must disband any clubs that cannot meet the requirements."

"That means..." Chikako said wiping her tears. "If we have enough members, you won't disband the club?"

"Yes, Kimura-san," Hiroki answered. "As long as you can get another member within the week, I won't have to disband your club."

"But only if you have another member that truly wishes to join the club," Hiroki added. "That was the requirement I managed to get out of the teacher in charge of your club so that he'll continue to be that club's teacher."

Getting another member to say they'll join the club would be easy but to find a student that honestly wants to join might be a bit hard, considering almost everyone in the school knows about Chikako's past. I didn't care about her past and that was the reason I joined her club without any ulterior motive. Anyone else might want something to be persuaded to joining.

"Please find another member, Kimura-san," Hiroki said staring at my friend. "I don't want to disband your club, especially after everything you and Amaya-san did for me."

Chikako nodded and gave me a determined expression.

"Come on, Kimi, we have to look for new members!" she said grabbing my hand.

...

"Remind me why we are crawling in the vents, Chikako?" I asked ignoring the uncomfortable breeze around my bare legs.

"Because we're looking for the only two people who took my Occult club flyer when I gave it to them," she answered continuing to crawl. "Everyone else ripped up my flyer when I followed them, these two are the only ones who didn't!"

"I feel like I should be asking why you said 'you followed them' but I'll ignore that for now," I said frowning. "But who are these two?"

"Shoji Mimoto from the Manga Artists club and Naomi Ikeda from the Music club," she answered. "They're the only two people that didn't ignore me or destroy my flyer. That has to mean they are good people who are interested in the Occult! I only have to find them and ask them to join the Occult club."

"Okay but I don't understand why we have to crawl through the school's air vents," I told her.

"I know the entire layout of the school, Kimi," she said. "Crawling through these vents are the shortcut to the bathroom near the classrooms where their clubs meet."

True to what she said, in less than ten minutes of crawling, Chikako and I reached a girl's bathroom. I had to wonder for what reason Chikako had to learn the entire layout of the school. This girl sure has some skills with stealth, that's for sure. She managed to get out of the vents without making any noise and checked the whole bathroom for any signs of life, only signaling me when she knew it was safe to come out.

I crawled out of the vent but unlike Chikako, I made some noise as I tried to get out. Chikako helped me get out when my leg got stuck.

"Wow, your butt is huge, Kimi," Chikako said as I crawled backwards out of the vent.

"Blame the shorts," I said frowning.

Chikako chuckled but quickly remembered her goal. "Come on, we'll see Naomi first," she said.

I followed Chikako to the bathroom's exit but the moment she opened the door, two girls came in. It only took me a second to remember the two girls being the same as the ones who kicked a soccer ball at Chikako when I first tried to prevent someone from calling the Nostalgia Line. It helped my memory since I remembered them being two of the senior members in the soccer club.

The girl's kept the bathroom door open while they smiled wickedly at Chikako.

"Hey, look who it is? It's the murdering bitch Chikako Kimura!" The girl with the thicker make-up laughed. Both of the girls laughed as the one that spoke grabbed Chikako's hair to prevent her from running away. They only noticed me when they begun pulling her hair.

"Who's this, Chikako?" The girl holding Chikako's hair asked. "Got another slave? Tell me, when are you going to kill her like you did with the other girl?"

I got ready to punch the teeth out of the girl's mouth but seeing the look in Chikako's eyes told me she didn't want me to resolve this with violence.

"She's not my slave..." Chikako cried. "She's my friend!"

"She's my friend!" the other girl mocked.

"Nobody's going to be friends with a killer," the girl holding Chikako's hair laughed.

"Sorry but I am her friend," I told them stepping forward. "She isn't using me or anything. We're friends and there's no one using the other!"

The girls glared at me but my glare was far more intimidating than theirs. I couldn't hide my anger from them. They reminded me too much of the Kuchisake-Onna that I met in Chikako's Nostalgia Line world. The Kuchisake-Onna's way of talking must have came from these two since I couldn't stop being remind of that demon laughing at and insulting Chikako.

"Let go of Chikako or else," I threatened.

"I think you should let go of her, Sayomi," the other girl told her friend.

"Shut up!" the girl Sayomi yelled back. "I won't let someone defend a murderer! If she wants to pick a fight with us, then I say let's fight!"

Sayomi dropped Chikako and stepped closer to me. She was a head taller than me but I was sure I was the stronger one. I clenched my hands into fists and got ready for anything this girl might throw at me.

"Sorry but I got to break up this catfight!" A young man's voice laughed.

A ball struck Sayomi in the face when she turned around, the ball exploding into a red cloud of some spice. Sayomi's face began to redden almost instantly.

"Hot! Hot! HOT!" she screamed running away, her friend following behind.

"We won't forget this!" The friend yelled back at us while she ran.

"And another damsel in distress has been saved by the hero Shoji Mimoto!" The young man's voice laughed.

Immediately upon hearing that laugh, I slammed the bathroom door shut and grabbed Chikako's hand.

"Let's find some other way into the Music Room, Chikako," I said pointing to the bathroom's air vent.

"But Shoji's right outside," she said pointing at the bathroom's door. "We can ask him if he wants to join the Occult Club."

She sure recovered quickly from her recent bullying...

"His voice, Chikako," I said trembling. "It just... reminds me too much of someone that annoyed me so much when I first met him."

"You mean Yosuke?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"I was trying not to say his name," I sighed.

"Hey! What kind of ungrateful princesses don't reward their Knight in Shining Armor!" Shoji yelled from the other side of the door. He laughed loudly "Give this knight a kiss! I don't mind much if you're not visually pleasing..."

"That's it, I'm kicking his ass," I said storming out of the bathroom.

"Wait, Kimi, we have to ask him if he wants to join!" Chikako cried trying to hold me back.

Outside the bathroom and standing in the middle of the hallway was Shoji Mimoto, a young man that was the same second-year student as us. The young man wore the bright blue male uniform of the school but it looked as if he didn't take good care of his uniform. Even under that ocean blue ski cap he wore, I could tell that his hair was just as messy as his uniform. He gave me a smile, one that obviously failed to charm the opposite gender, when I came out of the bathroom but his smile quickly turned around when he saw my expression.

"Wow, what a scary beauty," Shoji said taking a step away from me. "Might I get the name of this terrifying princess?"

"Stop talking like that," I hissed. "You don't know how much I find that kind of talking annoying."

Shoji grinned and held up his sleeve, pulling on it with his other hand. "Then would you like to see some magic?" he asked. "Or maybe I could tell some jokes? Anything to make such gorgeous ladies laugh..."

"I'm sorry for Kimi's behavior," Chikako said stepping in front of me. She bowed to Shoji. "I'm Chikako Kimura and this is my friend and fellow club member, Kimi Amaya."

"What would Kimi-chan and Chi-chan want from a humble manga artist?" Shoji asked bowing to Chikako.

Chikako gave a glance while she spoke. "Our Occult Club is facing being disbanded because we don't have enough members, Mimoto-san," Chikako explained. "I know you are already in another club but we can change our schedule to allow you to come to our meetings. You don't have to do anything but come to our meetings. If someone doesn't become a member of our club, then we'll be forced to disband."

"Please say you'll join our club, Mimoto-san!" Chikako begged bowing as much as could to Shoji.

Shoji gave her a nervous chuckle. "This is kind of sudden, Chi-chan," he said. "How would letting me think about for a while sound?"

Chikako looked up at Shoji, a smile forming on her face.

Shoji gave me another smile. "I'll join right this moment if this beauty tells me how much she fell in love with me when we first met eyes," he chuckled.

"I fell in love with you the moment I saw you," I said with little emotion.

Both Shoji and Chikako's jaws dropped the moment I said that. Seriously, this guy shouldn't expect me not to do something when it is Chikako's club on the line.

"Okay..." Shoji said still surprised. "I'll stick with thinking about-"

"Sorry but you said you'll join if I told you I fell in love with you at first sight," I interrupted.

Chikako handed Shoji the club member application form and a pen. Shoji stared at us with complete confusion while he held both the paper and pen.

"Sign it," I ordered losing my patience quickly.

"Seriously didn't see this happening when I thought about saving these girls," Shoji complained while he signed his name. "Expected them to shower me with kisses, not getting me to become a member of another club..."

He sighed as he handed the signed application form to Chikako.

"I'll see you beauties later," Shoji said giving us a smile before throwing a ball at the floor. The ball exploded into a cloud of smoke but when it cleared, Chikako and I could easily see Shoji trying to get out of sight as quickly as he could. The poor man didn't know just how pathetic he looked at the moment.

"This is great, the Occult club won't have to disband now!" Chikako yelled in celebration.

"But we got that guy as the member," I sighed. "Is it possible that we could still ask Naomi if she wants to join?"

Chikako chuckled at my question and stared at me for a few seconds before talking.

"Thanks for before, Kimi," she said smiling. "Nobody ever stood up for me when those two bullied me."

I almost forget about Sayomi and her friend, thanks to Shoji, but hearing Chikako thank me made me remember the two. "I didn't want to anyone to talk to you like that anymore," I told her. "You had enough of that insulting from the Kuchisake-Onna."

"They bullied me like that ever since Shizuka hung herself," Chikako told me. "They're the reason why I had to memorize the entire school's layout. It's much easier to avoid them if I find other ways to leave the school grounds. Sometimes, I have to make myself less noticeable if I can't leave the grounds unless it's through the front gate."

"You don't have to be like a ninja to leave school anymore, Chikako," I said. "I'll make sure they don't bully you anymore."

Chikako gave me another smile before remembering the application she held.

"Come on, Kimi! We have to give this to Hiroki before he leaves!" she said grabbing my hand.

Today sure was eventful. I met the small girl who loved soccer, Asuka Arai, and the man who tried to make us laugh, Shouji Mimoto. I even met the girls who bullied Chikako and almost scared them off. These meetings were eventful but there was only one thing I was proud of while I walked with my friend.

I felt like I was really helping Chikako, the first friend I made in Umizuo, overcome the many problems she had.

I felt our bond become even stronger after we gave Hiroki the application.


	16. Chapter 16: A Fool Finds The Hermit

Author's note: A tiny bit of language this chapter. Just giving a warning...

I literally had no words to explain the strange sight I had seen after I left my part-time job at Satoshi's cafe. My whole attention was placed on this one strange sight that everything seemed to be blocked out. I only spoke once my brain managed to process what I was seeing.

"What are you doing?" I said still staring at Yosuke's best Yu looked down from the roof of the house he stood on, being sure to keep his whole body balanced while he held up a satellite. He must have been up there for some time since a few birds had landed on his shoulder. The birds chirped loudly while Yu continued to hold up the satellite.

"I'm holding up this guy's satellite," he answered.

"I can see that but I'm asking why?"

"He needed help," he answered. "His satellite TV was having problems and I offered to fix the satellite but it turns out holding it up like this is the best way to watch his shows."

"Have long have you been up there?" I asked noticing the skin on his face was a bright red, mostly from the sunlight.

"For four hours," he told me.

"Four hours! That's too long to help someone with their reception!" I yelled at the young man. "Get down from there, Narukami-san. This guy's obviously using you!"

Almost as if he heard me, a small and elderly man came out of the house Yu stood on and gave Yu a wave. "Thank you, young man," he said smiling. "I'm finally done watching every concert. Thank you for helping an old man watch his grand-daughter's concerts. Come down so I can repay you for the help."

Yu gave the elderly man a nod and dropped the satellite back where it used to be, scaring the birds that used to sit on his shoulder because of his sudden movement. Without even bothering to look, Yu jumped off the roof of the house. He landed right on the concrete road, showing no signs of injury when he straightened old man laughed after seeing Yu jump from his roof.

"Wish I was young again," he laughed. "I could have jumped off an even taller building and get no injuries easily when I was younger."

The old man laughed until he remembered what he was doing. He took out his wallet and shifted through the bills but Yu shook his head when he tried to give him a 5000-yen bill.

"I don't need to be paid, sir," Yu said smiling. "I helped because I wanted to."

The old man laughed at Yu again, this time louder than before. "Not much kids like you left in this world, young man," he laughed patting him on the back. "Everybody always wants something in return these days. Nice to know there's some good people like yourself left."

Yu and the old man gave each other good-byes. The old man went back inside his house while Yu turned his attention back to me.

"Want something to eat?" he asked.

I don't think I'll ever be able to predict what this man would ever say in my life. He's just that confusing. But at least I knew that Yu was a good person to the point that he'll stand still for four hours for an old man for no payment. I could understand why the women in his high school fell in love with him. He had both good looks and a good heart. He was also the only person I could find who managed to defeat a god.

I accepted his offer and walked with him to the closest fast-food restaurant. It took us some time to reach the restaurant. People from everywhere were stopping us to shake Yu's hand and thank him for the ways he helped them. Over the last four days he was Umizuo, Yu had helped people find or gather what they needed or saved them from a possibly disastrous situation. In all, twenty people were helped by the young man and every single one was grateful for his help.

"Been busy, huh?" I said as we walked into the restaurant of a fast-food chain.

"I was just around," he answered paying for both of our orders. In less than a minute, Yu took our orders and we sat down at a table in the corner of the me. Yu devoured his order, not bothering to show any but the basic of manners while he ate in front of a lady. I shouldn't spend much time around this man, I'll have a headache everyday if I had to try beginning to understanding this man's actions. Just the thought that this man once defeated a god gave me a headache when I considered the type of person he was.

"Those hours you helped the old man must have made you hungry," I said. "But could you slow down a bit?"

"Something you want to know?" Yu asked swallowing a large piece of his cheeseburger.

"Yes," I answered. "I want to know how you defeated a god and if I can use it to defeat Poseidon."

"It's impossible for you to defeat a god, Amaya-san..."

Wow, he was blunt!

"What do you mean I can't?" I almost yelled. If I had yelled, I would have caused a scene and at the moment, that's the last thing I needed.

Yu's expression still didn't change when he answered. "Amaya-san, let me finish," he told me. "I meant impossible to do because you aren't strong enough."

"You have the Wild Card ability, right? Yosuke told me that you had the same ability as me," I told him. "Teach me how to use the Wild Card power until I'm as good as you. Metatron looked powerful enough to challenge Poseidon and if the Wild Card power lets you use multiple Persona, then you must have other Persona just as strong as that angel!"

"Amaya-san, I can't help you develop your Wild Card ability," Yu said looking down. "This is something you have to find out yourself..."

That's when I snapped.

"Why? Because it's my adventure and not yours?" I asked raising my voice. "I am tired of everybody that can actually help me, refuse because of some stupid reason! You, Igor, Philemon, and anybody else that has even a shred of an idea of what's going on in this town! None of you are helping me! You say you're helping me but I don't have any idea what to do! I had to rely on you and Yosuke to help me when Poseidon tried to kill me! I don't want to be that helpless again! I want to fight with my power and save myself!"I was crying at this point. My bottled up feelings about this whole situation I got stuck in was gushing out. "So what if this my adventure and not yours!" I yelled ignoring the stare of everybody else in the restaurant. "I didn't want to be stuck into this crazy plan! I had my dead parents try to kill me the night I came to this stupid town, all because a god want my heart for who knows what reasons! I have so many questions but nobody is giving me any answers! Only more fucking questions!""I WANT SOME DAMN ANSWERS!" I screamed slamming my fists against the table.

I had made a scene but I didn't care anymore. I wanted at least some answers to the questions I've had ever since I came to Umizuo. Nothing but cryptic help came from the people claiming to be on my side. They kept saying I had to find the answers on my own but it's been almost a month since I moved to this town and I've had none of my questions answered. I've done nothing to stop the scheme going on in the shadows. Saving Chikako and Hiroki were the right thing to do but they wouldn't stop that culprit in my dream from sending out more Nostalgia Line messages. That man would keep sending more and more until we could no longer save the person.I wanted someone to at least give an idea how to stop him.

I was releasing the stress I built up because of that desire all on Yu, who only refused to teach how to use the Wild Card or tell me how to defeat a god. It was both shameful and embarrassing that I finally decided to snap that moment.

"Let's talk somewhere else," Yu suggested.

"Okay..." I mumbled. I wasn't sure Yu had heard me but the young man left the restaurant. I followed him for a while until we had reached the town's docks. The smaller boats had returned from their voyage into the ocean and had workers unloading the large amounts of fish they brought back. Yu sat down on the edge of the cement wall above the ocean. He stared at the ocean while I sat down a couple of feet away, wrapping my arm around a pole sticking out of the cement for safety.

"Have you calmed down?" he asked.

"Somewhat," I answered. I was still angry but shame of letting out my feelings in the restaurant overpowered it.

Yu sighed. "What does the Velvet Room look like to you, Amaya-san?" he asked.

A random question but I'll answer it. "I'm inside a cruise ship's dining room," I answered. "Igor and his assistant Irene are always seating across from my seat at the table in the middle of the room. There isn't much light except for the candles on the chandelier and on every table. The only other thing I can remember is that Nameless and Belladonna are always playing on the stage almost every time I'm called into the room."

"My Velvet Room was inside a limousine driving through a fog," Yu told me. "And from what Margeret tells me, the other three before us each had a Velvet Room far different than ours but they are always built to fit the guest or his quest."

Yu glanced at me. "I didn't ask to be involved in the murders that happened in my town of Inaba, Amaya-san," he said. "Izanami only used me and two others for her own decision about what humans wanted. She gave the culprit the power to get away with murder and decided that humanity wanted to become mindless creatures because of that man. If it weren't for me and my friends, Izanami would have shrouded the whole world in fog, turning every human into Shadows."

"But for the entire year I lived in Inaba, I had no idea that the one that caused everything was just the gas station attendent who shaked my hand on my first day in Inaba," he continued. "I spent most of the year trying to find the person that kidnapped my friends and he wasn't even the murderer, just someone being used by the true murderer..."

Hearing what happened to Yu, I found out that my feelings weren't just my own. Yu had the same feelings as me during his own quest to catch the killer in the well-known Inaba cases I heard about years ago. It surprised me that Yu had been the one who caught the killer of those cases but what surprised me more was that the god Izanami had been the true culprit and that her reasons were to envelop humanity in a fog because that's what she thought humans wanted.

"But what's been the toughest to accept was that the murderer was someone I knew very well, someone I wouldn't have thought could ever be a killer," Yu continued. "People have a dark side that they suppress or hide from society, Amaya-san. If there's one thing I learned from my time in Inaba was that everybody is not who you think they are. Even I have a few hidden feelings I'd rather not have people see..."

"But embracing those darker and hidden feelings makes you stronger, Amaya-san," he said making a small smile. "If I didn't face my hidden feelings, I would have thought my friends would one day leave me when we caught the killer. That single hidden feeling would have kept me from defeating Izanami if I didn't overcome it. If you can't trust your own friends, then it's impossible to defeat a god."

"Friends are the key to defeating gods?" I asked puzzled by his answer.

"Igor should be telling you this but the way to increasing the strength of the Wild Card is to bond with people around you," Yu told me.

My thoughts immediately went to Chikako and Hiroki, the two friends I have made in my time in Umizuo. Santou, Irene, Asuka, Yosuke, and my guardian Sasaki came into my thoughts as well, the people I have bonded with after coming to this town. There were also some bonds that felt like they were beginning to form. Most of my bonds felt faint but they were there in my heart. I could feel each one of them when I thought about the bonds I made since coming to this town.

"I'm sorry if I offended you but the only reason I didn't tell you was because Igor or his assistant are supposed to tell you, not someone who isn't a resident of the Velvet Room anymore."

Suddenly, I felt a lot worse about yelling at Yu. I should have listened to him when he told me to visit Igor but I was too focused on Sasaki being late that I forgot about it. It never crossed my mind again until today.

"You don't know it yet but one day, every person you bond with will give you strength to fight," Yu told me. "My bonds gave me the strength to take down gods..."

Tears trickled down my cheeks. "I'm sorry, Narukami-san," I said wiping my tears. "I shouldn't have yelled at you because of my own mistake."

Yu smiled at me, causing my heart to skip a beat. "It's alright," he said continuing to smile. "In fact, I'll tell you about a place I found when I looked for a way to help you. I found it when someone asked me to give a message to her adult son who had been gone since the morning. All I had to tell him was that his mother needed him back at home. This person likes to spend his days underneath the Izuyo Bridge in the middle of town. Amaya-san, I think you'll find something useful after you talk this man."

Yu checked his watch, making me check my own as well. I still had two hours to wait for Sasaki, meaning I would have enough time to see this person Yu found. Looking at the young man's expression, he wanted me to see him as soon as possible.

I gave Yu a bow and another apology before leaving to find this person.

"Another piece of advice, Amaya-san," Yu yelled while I walked away. "Sometimes, it's better to listen to the person's problem rather than to deal with them. Remember that, Amaya-san."

I took his advice and left to find the person under the Izuyo Bridge.

...

Thirty minutes of calming myself down and walking finally brought me to Izuyo Bridge, a long concrete bridge connecting the land separated by the wide river underneath it. Yu was right about a young man sitting underneath the bridge. The man had to be in his early twenties but from where I was standing, I couldn't see much of his appearance underneath the black hoodie to prove it. His jeans were covered in dried up dirt, the dirt becoming more recent the closer to his foot it got. While I made my way towards him, the young man was kicking up dirt into the river, watching it flow away in the water.

"Um... hello," I said when i got close enough for him to hear young man turned to me, letting me see his face that was partially hidden behind his messy black hair. The guy did have a sort of child-like appearance to his face, making him look younger than he actually was.

"Is it time to go home?" he asked me.

"What?" I sighed.

"Does my Mom want me to go home?"

"I don't know," I said. This guy seriously need his Mom to tell him when to come home? He was old enough to decide whenever he wanted to go back to home.

"Then what's your reason for coming here?" He asked. "Are you with those annoying kids that want to know why I spend my time down here? Or do you think I'm allowed to be here? Don't try to do the latter because I already read the law book that said there's nothing you can do to keep me from coming here." The young man took another look at me. "But you don't look like a police officer with that school uniform. If you're going to bother me with something stupid, then don't waste my time. I'm doing some very important work at the moment..."

"Important work? Looks like you're just kicking up dirt to me," I said.

"Can you read minds?" he asked back. "Because if you could, you would see the intense thinking I am capable of in less than a second. I'm a genius with an IQ of over a hundred and fifty."

Wow, this guy has a big ego. I would have left at that moment but I felt diligent enough to continue talking. "You were drooling not long ago," I noticed. "You still have some drool on your chin..."

The young man's hand raised to feel the drool on his chin and wiping it away the moment he found out that I was right.

"So what if I was drooling? I'm hungry and I was thinking of buying my favorite food at the store," he said trying to explain another reason for his drool other than him dozing off. "Who are you anyways? Not much people talk to me longer than they need to. You're still talking to me after five minutes."

Stop talking so high about yourself, have some humility, and maybe people might listen longer.

I forgot that thought while I introduced myself. "I'm Kimi Amaya," I told him. "Second year student at the local high school."

"Takei Hanado," he said. "So, Kimi Amaya, what made you decide to talk to me? Curious about why I spend most of the day underneath this bridge?"

"Not exactly," I said. "I just thought it might be interesting to talk to someone like you."

Takei give me a smile. "Can't blame you for wanting to talk to someone like me," he chuckled.

I frowned. "You must really think high of yourself, Hanado-san," I said

To my surprise, Takei's smile faded. "Quite the opposite actually, Kimi-chan," he told me turning his head back to the river. "I think there can't be a more pathetic man than myself..."

In that moment, I saw the pride-filled expression on his face fade away. I saw the feelings of disappointment and regret in his face. I didn't know the details but Takei Hanado didn't have a big ego. He only talked big about himself to hide his real feelings of self-hatred. This had to be the reason Yu told me to meet him. He must have noticed Takei's true feelings and decided he was a person who would get along with.

Takei's expression disappeared and was replaced in an instant with his usual expression. "So what kind of candy do you like, Kimi-chan? I got a whole bunch..." he said pulling handfuls of wrapped candies out of his pockets. He handed me a few of his candy. "I think this much is okay for someone watching their weight."

I snatched a much larger amount of candy from his hand than he had offered. "I'm not on any kind of diet," I said unwrapping one of the candy. "I don't need to watch my weight either..."

Takei chuckled while he watched me eat the candy I took. I took a glance at the young man and saw that he was smiling like he was somehow satisfied with something.

"It's been so long since I had a real conversation with someone that isn't my family," he told me. "Thanks for listening to me..."

Takei felt honest gratitude to me for having a conversation with him and I could see it in his eyes. My heart felt the gratitude and in that instant, I felt a faint bond form between me and the lonely young man underneath the stopped and a voice speaked to me.

_Thou art I..._

_ and I am thou..._

_Thou hast established a genuine bond..._

_It brings you closer to a new life...Thou shall be blessed when creating Persona of the Hermit Arcana..._

Time restarted and I finally noticed the time. I didn't have anymore time to talk with Takei if I wanted to be in time for Sasaki to pick me up. "I'm sorry but I have to leave," I said bowing.

"That's alright," Takei said waving his hand. "If you ever want to talk again, I'll always be here under this bridge unless my mom needs me for something..."

I gave Takei another good-bye and then I left to get my ride back home.

...

I turned my desk lamp off and laid my head against the open school textbook. My homework was finally finished but I was still feeling bad about yelling at Yu. It was stupid and immature to explode like that. My only consolation was that no one at the restaurant knew who I was and that no one would ask me what happened on Monday. I had to focus my thoughts on tomorrow and forget about my short time of stupidity.I usually went into town with Sasaki on Sundays but tomorrow was different since she had to talk to her agent, leaving me alone to do whatever I wanted.

I took out my cell phone and stared at the screen for over a minute. Maybe I should call Chikako or Hiroki and see if they want to hang out?

The moment I thought that, my cell phone sprung to life and rung loudly. I jumped up and answered the call in less than a second.

"Hello?" I said.

"Kimi..." Yosuke's voice said from my phone.

"Please don't tell me someone received the Nostalgia Line message," I said almost instantly.

"No, but Fuuka just had a great idea," Yosuke answered.

"Did she find anything that could track whoever's sending the texts?" I asked.

"Again, no..." he said.

"Then what is it?" I said not bothering to hide my annoyance.

"Okay, listen, Fuuka just had this great idea," he said. "You know how the entrance to the Nostalgia Line world is inside a tunnel outside of town?"

"Yes but what about it?"

Yosuke chuckled. "Well, Kimi..." Yosuke chuckled a little more before he continued. "How would you like to find out tomorrow what's inside that tunnel when nobody called the Nostalgia Line?"


	17. Chapter 17: New Player

"This sounds just like something the Occult Club should investigate!" Chikako yelled in excitement.

My friend began walking faster the moment I told her about Fuuka's plan to enter the tunnel that led into the Nostalgia Line's world. She was definitely excited about investigating that tunnel when nobody was inside. I couldn't blame her since I was also incredibly curious to know what was inside.

We knew that if somebody called the Nostalgia Line, then they are transported into the world created from their worst memories. When we escaped the world after defeating the demon, we should have escaped out of the phone that brought us but that wasn't the case. Every time I ran out of that world, I was always running out of the same tunnel near the outskirts of Umizuo. Something is wrong with that tunnel and today, we'll find out what is inside that tunnel when someone didn't call the Nostalgia Line.

"So where are we meeting up again?" Chikako asked when she noticed she had walked a far distance away from me. She stopped and waited for me to catch up with her.

"Fuuka, Yu, and Hiroki will be sitting outside at the cafe I work at," I answered. "Don't worry, I'll lead the way."

"Fuuka and Yu? What about Yosuke?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"His broken arm still hasn't healed up yet," I answered leading Chikako to the cafe I had a part-time job at. "It'll be too dangerous for him to fight in that condition."

Finished asking questions, Chikako remained silent until we finally reached the cafe. The three we were supposed to meet weren't there yet, since we were about twenty minutes early, so Chikako and I sat down at one of the tables outside. One of the part-timers came to our table and asked for our orders. In less than five minutes, both Chikako and I received two slices of strawberry shortcake.

"I wonder what we'll find down there," Chikako said while she cut off a piece of her cake. "Maybe it'll be some kind of strange world filled with those demons we fought..."

"I doubt that," I said. "We have no way of finding out what we'll find until we go inside. It could be a demon-infested world or something more normal. We won't know until we investigate."

"I guess you're right, Kimi," she said.

I picked up my fork and went to stab the strawberry on my plate but another fork blocked mine. I turned my head to my right the instant I saw the other fork.

"I'll be taking this," the familiar Irene said taking my strawberry with her fingers and throwing it into her mouth.

How does this girl always manage to appear out of nowhere?

"What is it this time, Irene?" I asked glaring down at the little girl.

"So this is what the famous strawberry tastes like," Irene said as she continued to chew, not bothered at all by my glare. "It's great but I would like to taste that takoyaki my brother and sister had when they visited this world. I wonder if what Brother told me about ingredients in the takoyaki was true..."

Irene finally noticed my glaring but gave me her most innocent smile . I could still see the remains of my stolen strawberry clinging to her perfect and white teeth.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Kimi Amaya?" she asked trying to sound innocent.

I was about to answer her but Chikako's voice interrupted me.

"She's so..."

I looked at my friend and saw that she was trembling, holding her hands out towards the little girl.

"She's so cute!" Chikako screamed jumping at Irene and wrapping her arms around the little girl. Irene cried in surprise while she was hugged tightly by my friend. I couldn't help but smile while I watch Chikako rub her cheek against Irene's.

"You are so cute!" Chikako yelled releasing the little girl but she kept her grip on her arms to keep Irene from running away. Chikako studied Irene from her head down to her toes. "You're hair is so long and shiny, it's almost like it's white! And I love this dress! Did Katherine design this dress? You just look so cute that I can't help myself!"

Chikako squeled and embraced Irene again, hugging her even tighter while rubbing her cheek against her's. Irene gave me a look that obviously wanted me to help her but I'm enjoying this way too much to stop it. She deserves a little humiliation for stealing my strawberry and appearing out of nowhere so much.

It took a while but Chikako had finally calmed down and released Irene. Irene rubbed her red cheek while she sat back down next to me. The little girl wrapped her arms around mine and hid behind me. Sometimes I'm surprised how much this girl can act just like a real child, despite her having lived her entire life in the Velvet Room.

"Who's this little cutie, Kimi?" Chikako said staring at the frightened Irene. She looked as if she might hug Irene again at any second.

"She's Irene, the little girl that keeps appearing out of nowhere to annoy me," I answered not bothering to hide my annoyance from Irene.

"Irene," Chikako said smiling. "Such a cute name fits her perfectly."

Irene hugged my arm tighter as the stare from my friend intensified.

"I had no idea normal humans could be so dangerous," Irene whispered to me. "Does every human do the same thing to everything they consider 'cute', Kimi Amaya?"

"They do when it's you," I joked. Looking down at Irene, I saw that she actually believed me. That frightened look in her eyes told that she believed every one of my words. For some reason, I felt a strange desire to tell her that I was only joking. Maybe it was that innocent look in those huge blue eyes looking up at me that awoke some feelings I had for the little girl.

"It was only a joke," I told Irene.

"Really?" she asked still looking at me with those big blue eyes.

"Only Chikako will react like that," I chuckled pointing at my friend.

"Don't say that, Kimi!" Chikako yelled.

The effect was almost instant as Irene returned to her normal self. She smiled as she took my plate and finished the leftovers of the strawberry cake. I waited until she was finished before I asked her a question.

"Why are you here, Irene?" I asked. "Is it another warning from Igor or do you just want to steal my food until you're satisfied? In fact, while we're on the subject about you, how about you tell me how you got my phone number?"

"Neither," she answered wiping the crumbs off her mouth with her own personal napkin. "And we have the numbers of everyone that comes into the Velvet Room. Sort of a way we can contact you in case you are wanted."

"Velvet Room? What is she talking about?" Chikako asked sounding confused.

I ignored Chikako's question, choosing to have my attention all on the little girl next to me.

"How about you tell me why I had to wear such embarrassing clothing just because of what you told me to do in a text?" I asked trying to keep myself from showing Irene the massive feelings of irritation that she caused for me with her texts.

Irene began laughing nervously as she slid out of her chair. "I think I should be getting back to the Velvet Room," she told me. "Igor can't go long without me, his assistant..."

Before I could grab her, Irene ran as fast as she could away from me. My teeth felt like they would break from how much I was grinding them after seeing Irene escape.

"Um, I would like to ask why you're so mad but I'll wait until you calmed down a little," Chikako said.

Chikako and I spent the next few minutes talking about random subjects until Yu, Fuuka, and Hiroki had finally arrived at the cafe. After receiving a complaint from myself about how late they were, the five of us left in Fuuka's car towards the Nostalgia Line's entrance.

...

"What's in these?" I asked as Fuuka handed us several heavy backpacks from the trunk of her car. "Flashlights, rope, and emergency supplies," Fuuka answered giving another backpack to Hiroki. "Basically whatever you need for exploring."

"Except protein bars," Yu said holding up his hand, showing us the handful of protein bars he brought. "You need protein bars whenever you want to explore. Great source of protein and several other essential vitamins..."

"Shut up about the protein bars," I said.

"Narukami-san is right about needing the protein bars, Amaya-san," Hiroki said strapping on his backpack. "It's important to have a reliable source of energy when exploring."

"I also got this beef bowl," Yu said holding up a steaming bowl of beef and rice, seemingly bringing out of nowhere. "But I'm afraid it's only enough for one person..."

"Oh, so that explains why I smelled beef in the car," Chikako chuckled. Fuuka chuckled with my friend but I didn't see the joke.

"Enough with the jokes," I told them. "Let's hurry and begin exploring this tunnel. We might find a hint about what the Nostalgia Line is."

"Amaya-san's right," Fuuka agreed. "Our mission today is to explore this tunnel and try to find any information on the Nostalgia Line."

The others nodded in agreement and we began our exploration into the Nostalgia Line tunnel, with me leading the group. Five minutes of walking and the light from outside had dimmed to the point that we had to take out the flashlights Fuuka gave us. Even with flashlights lighting our way, the path in front of u was still a little dark. Both Chikako and Fuuka tripped on a rock but both were caught by Hiroki before they got injured. I smiled, however, when I saw Hiroki catch Chikako. Chikako's face was flushed with red when Hiroki asked if she was alright. It was such a cute sight that I couldn't help but laugh quietly...

Which was the reason why I tripped.

Unlike Chikako and Fuuka, Hiroki or Yu wasn't near me to catch me before I hit the ground. My body hit the ground hard and a sharp pain moved throughout my arms. The rock floor had cut up my unprotected arms. I jumped back to my feet and looked at my cut-up arm. Fuuka took out disinfectant the instant he saw my arms. I winced once I felt the piercing pain of disinfectant touching my cuts.

"Alright, you should be okay," Fuuka said after finishing bandaging my arms. "But you should stay a little closer to one of us, Amaya-san. We don't want you to get hurt again."

"Okay," I told Fuuka.

After my injuries were bandaged and we resumed walking down the tunnel, I stayed closer to the group, more specifically Yu. It didn't long, however, for me to notice that Hiroki was covering his eyes with his hand and that Yu had a small smile on his face. Chikako was fidgeting, as if she wanted to tell me something but didn't have the courage to say it. I stared at them, puzzled by their expressions until Yu spoke up. "Black panties," Yu said giving me a thumbs-up. "You're more mature than I thought, Amaya-san..."

I didn't want to get angry at Yu and shout at him again but a simple stabbing of my two fingers into his eyes and hearing him yell in pain was enough for me.

We walked further and further into the tunnel, lighting our way with the flashlights, but after one hour of walking, we still didn't see the end of the tunnel.

Chikako groaned. "How much longer are we going to have to walk?" she moaned. "My hair is getting drenched with my sweat! I'm going to have to take more than two showers just to get the smell of sweat out of my hair!"

"We've been walking almost non-stop for the last hour but the tunnel still goes on," Hiroki said.

"This tunnel felt a lot shorter whenever we're escaping the Nostalgia Line world," I added wiping the sweat off my face.

"There could be an explanation for that," Fuuka told us. "Adrenaline might have been a factor for thinking this tunnel was shorter. Or there might be some kind of supernatural explanation. We won't know unless we try to find out..."

"I see something," Yu said raising his voice.

We all forgot about the length of the tunnel once we saw that the tunnel did lead somewhere and that we were reaching the end. All five of us ran until we reached the end of the tunnel and once we reached it, we were all surprised by what we found.

There was nothing supernatural about the sight we saw. No demons or gods in the huge cavern that the tunnel led into. All five of us were in awe of the huge cavern we found at the end of the tunnel. It was a naturally-occuring sight that had almost nothing supernatural about it. We spread out into the cavern, staring at the many stalagmites and stalagtites filling the cavern. We didn't need the flashlights anymore because sunlight poured in through a massive hole in the cavern's ceiling. The cavern itself was beautiful but what sparkled was the large lake in the middle of the cavern. The water in the lake was so clear that we could see the bottom easily. The lake sparkled but our attention instantly fell on the single object chained at the bottom of the lake. The object was something we saw so many times in pictures from Greece that we saw in classes.

It was a cracked Greek statue of Poseidon holding a stone trident. It was a statue of the god chained to the bottom of the lake.

Chikako was the first to speak. "Do you think that's..."

"It's Poseidon, alright," I interrupted. "But this must be what he looks like in the Real World. He's just a statue chained to the bottom of a lake."

"He's still a god," Fuuka told us. "And if reality were warped in any way, he could attack us."

"Still, this is what the Nostalgia Line world looks like when nobody's inside," Hiroki said still looking around in awe. "A huge cavern..."

"It's big enough," Yu said.

I looked over at Yu. "Big enough? Big enough for..."

I stopped as I found out what Yu meant.

The cavern was big enough to hold whatever world that the Nostalgia Line became once someone called. It was big enough to become the Theater for Chikako, the Factory for Hiroki, and the Forest for me. This cavern must have been chosen as the spot for the Nostalgia Line because of its size. This exploration trip had given the answers for a few things, such as the reason for the Nostalgia Line's location and why Poseidon is trapped inside the Nostalgia Line world.

"Does anyone else feel something wrong?" Chikako asked breaking the silent awe we had for the cavern.

"Now that you mention it, something feels wrong in the air," I said feeling a shiver go up my spine.

Everyone of us readied ourselves once we heard the sound of something whirring echoing throughout the cavern. Seconds after hearing the whirring, a ghostly red shade spread across the cavern. The sunlight coming through the hole turned silver, as if it had become moonlight coming through. Red liquid that looked strangely like blood flowed out of the sharp stalagmites. A feeling of dread fell upon us a the ghostly red shade had surrounded the whole cavern, turning the once beautiful cavern into a horrifying and creepy place.

"Did someone call the Nostalgia Line?" Chikako yelled staring at the sudden change of the cavern with fear in her eyes.

"That's impossible," Fuuka answered. "My computers didn't pick anyone receiving the message!"

"Then what the hell is happening?" Hiroki yelled staying near Chikako in order to protect her.

Only Yu and I were calm in the sudden situation change. We both were searching the cavern for the one responsible for this change. It didn't take long for us to find the culprit.

"There!" Yu and I yelled pointing at one of the tallest stalagmites. Everyone else turned their heads to where we pointed.

Standing right on top of the stalagmite, was a young man that wore a long and black cape that covered his body and legs. He stood on the tip of stalagmite with such balance that it was like he was standing on the ground. Underneath his cape, we could hear the whirring sound coming from inside. My eyes moved up to his face but the young man was wearing a Kamen rider mask, the kind one can find at festivals, that hid his face. Bright green eyes looked down on us from behind the mask he wore and the young man spoke after he flicked his black hair out of the way. "I did not expect to come out so soon," he said. His voice sounded young, as if he was same age as me, Chikako, and Hiroki. "But the last three attempts to steal memories from the ungrateful masses have failed, forcing me to move my hand to stop you!"

The young man's hand swung out of his cape, throwing a tiny lizard into the air between us. To our surprise, the same black blobs Chikako and I saw in her Theater world appeared all across the cavern. The black blobs thrown themselves at the lizards, injecting themselves into the reptile. We watched as more and more blobs injected themselves into the mutating and growing lizard. A cloud of black and red smoke exploded out of the lizard and even though our vision was blocked by the smoke, we heard something very big and heavy smash the ground when it landed. A ground-shattering roar came from within the red and black cloud and in an instant, the cloud was dispelled and we were able to see what the lizard had become.

The lizard had become a huge dragon that resembled a Komodo Dragon but far larger and with copper armor covering its huge body. The demon lizard opened its mouth and let out another loud roar, bellowing out a pillar of flame out of its mouth as it roared.

And to make matters worse, Poseidon grinned down on us from his seat atop the demon lizard's back.

"Welcome back, Kimi Amaya," Poseidon said not bothering to hide his anger while he grinned.

"Crush and burn them into ashes, Dwei!" the young man ordered.

Dwei roared and charged towards us using it four massive feet. Before we could summon our Persona, Dwei opened its mouth and fired another pillar of flames, this time making aimed for us.

"Pyro Jack!" Yu yelled crushing a glowing blue Tarot card.

A flash of blue aura appeared in front of us and Yu's Persona appeared. It was a pumpkin head with a cape for a body and its one hand was holding up a lantern. A sound of a bell came out of the Persona's lantern and the pillar of flame Dwei fired had began spiraling into the lantern. Once the last bit of flames went inside the lantern, another bell rung and a normal flame filled the Persona's lantern.

Even though the flames was dealt with, we still had a demonic lizard charging towards us.

"The Lovers!" I yelled throwing my hand in front of me. "Medusa!"

The Lovers Arcana card appeared in front of us and begun spinning until multitudes of emerald-colored snakes came writhing out of the card. From within the multitude of snakes, the milky-white body of a woman came out. Snakes covered her naked body as she stepped out. Red snakes hissed as they hung from the woman's head as her hair.

"Stop that demon, Medusa!" I ordered.

Medusa hissed as she opened her eyes wide-open and released a blast of light at the charging Dwei. The light smashed into the ground below Dwei's front feet, causing the earth beneath it to crumbled. Dwei roared as it lost its balance and crashed it's face into the earth.

"This is our chance!" Yu yelled. "Rakshasa!"

"Musashi!" I yelled.

Medusa changed into the Persona Musashi with a flash of blue aura while Pyro Jack changed into a horned demon wearing red armor and wielding twin swords after the sound of glass shattering. Musashi unsheathed his katana's and jumped at Dwei with Rakshasa. Both our Persona got ready to swing their swords at the downed Dwei.

"Not this time!" Poseidon yelled blocking Musashi and Rakshasa's blades with his trident. The god grinned as he blasted our Persona into the ground with a massive torrent of saltwater. I screamed as pain shot throughout my entire body and fell to my knee with Yu.

"You deserve this for preventing us from taking memories!" the young man laughed.

"Who are you?" I yelled after recovering from Poseidon's attack.

The young man laughed at my question and swung both of his arms out from inside the cape, revealing the clothing he wore underneath.

He wore the same male uniform of my school.

"I am... I am the Hero!" he yelled.


	18. Chapter 18: The Forgotten Hour

"Persona!" Chikako and Hiroki yelled.

In a flash of blue aura, Aphrodite and Shu appeared to help our Persona fight Dwei and Poseidon. Aphrodite and Shu tackled the huge lizard but the two Persona had only managed to hold back Dwei for a few seconds before the demon fired another blast of flames at them. Chikako's Persona blocked the flames with a shield of electricity but a fair amount of the flames got past and burned both Persona's.

I turned the instant I saw them fall to their knees in the corner of my eyes. "Are you alright?" I asked seeing Hiroki and Chikako holding the same parts of their bodies where their Persona were burned.

"That thing's strong," Hiroki said standing back up. "Shu has a lot of strength but that demon completely overpowered him."

Cementing Hiroki's comment, Dwei roared and swung its tail at Chikako and Hiroki's Persona. Aphrodite and Shu were struck out of the air and crashed into the wall of the cavern. Both my friends let out a pained yell but Dwei wasn't finished attacking their Persona. The demon broke through the stalagmites during its charge towards the two.

"Arahabaki!" Yu yelled crushing another card in his hands.

A flash of blue light surrounded Rakshasa while it flew in front of the charging Dwei. Rakshasa disappeared in the light and reformed into a blue clay doll with near-shut eyes. Dwei charged into the Persona but had bounced off a invisible barrier. It roared as it smashed everything around it in anger and pain.

"Oh look at what you did to my Dwei!" the young man calling himself the Hero laughed. "Why don't you help him a little, Poseidon? Or are you too preoccupied with that girl's Persona."

My Persona Musashi tried to strike the god with his katana but Poseidon moved too fast for it to even graze him. Every time Musashi swung its katana, Poseidon blocked it with his trident. After a few times blocking my attacks, the god slammed his foot into Musashi's gut, causing me the same pain.

Poseidon ignored the young man and turned his eyes to me. "What an annoyance you have become, Kimi Amaya," the god said. "If I didn't need your heart, I would have already crushed you under my foot!"

He intended to intimidate me but it only made me smile. I was becoming a threat and the god knew it.

The Hero, however, laughed out loud after Poseidon had finished. "What a pathetic god you turn out to be, Poseidon," he laughed. "This is how you get things done!"

The Hero pointed his fingers at our group and the black blobs sprung out of the ground in front of us. All five of us jumped back as the blob divided and each blob began to shape itself. The blobs shaped themselves into four massive wrestlers-like beings that wore white masks over their faces. Chikako screamed as one of the demons grabbed her arm.

Bang!

A bullet pierced the demon's wrist and the hand holding Chikako turned back into black goo. My friend stared at the goo as it slid slowly down her, a disgusted expression on her face.

I turned my head to the direction the bullet had come from and saw Fuuka holding up a smoking pistol in her hand. I was surprised to see a person like Fuuka to be holding such a weapon with the determined look on her face.

"Don't worry, Amaya-san, it's been a while but..." Fuuka said. "I'll be fighting with you this time."

Fuuka surprised all of us when she held the barrel of her gun against her temple. I didn't think as I swung my hand forward to stop her but I was too late.

Fuuka pulled the trigger and shot herself.

To our surprise again, no bullet fired out of the gun but instead, Fuuka's whipped to the side as if she had really been shot. The familiar glass shattering sound echoed throughout the cavern as blue aura surrounded Fuuka's body. The blue aura formed the upper half of a woman's body while a glass dome formed around Fuuka. We stared up in awe at the large Persona that Fuuka had summoned. Fuuka herself stayed inside the Persona's glass dome with her hands clasped together as if she were praying.

"This is my Persona, Juno."

Fuuka had spoken to us telepathically, surprising us again. She, however, wasn't to going to answer our questions as Juno turned her bandaged head towards the demons in front of our group.

"Chikako! These Shadows are weak to electricity! Use Zio Spells!" Fuuka's voice yelled in our heads.

Chikako nodded and made her Persona fly away from the rampaging Dwei, letting Shu deal with the demonic lizard. Electricity flew out of Aphrodite's hands as she raised her arms.

"Mazionga!" Chikako ordered.

Aphrodite swung her hands down at the demons and bolts of lightning struck all four of them. They let out a shrill scream as their bodies turned back into black blobs.

"Amaya-san! Poseidon is going to attack!" Fuuka warned me.

My attention turned back to my Persona Musashi. I saw Poseidon's trident glow as he tried to pierce Musashi with his weapon. Fuuka's warning allowed me to order Musashi to block his trident before it pierced Musashi's chest.

"This is your chance!" Fuuka yelled.

I didn't need Fuuka to tell me, I could see my chance to attack Poseidon. I lifted my hand towards Musashi and blue aura surrounded me and my Persona.  
>"Temperance! Robin Hood!" I yelled willing my Persona to change.<p>

Musashi disappeared behind his Emperor Arcana in a flash of blue aura and the card began to spin until it changed into the Temperance Arcana. Faster than the god could react, dozens of arrows fired from behind the Temperance card. The god tried to block the barrage of arrows by spinning his trident but more than a few got past his spinning trident. Over ten arrows pierced Poseidon's body, making golden blood drip out of his wounds.

My Persona, Robin Hood, floated in the air, aiming it's huge bow at Poseidon and pulling back the bow's string with an arrow in its fingers. Robin Hood was a tall man wearing ragged and dark green tights with a white mask over his face. Like Musashi and Medusa, this new Persona radiated power and forced Poseidon to make distance between my Persona and himself.

I must have been grinning because finally, I injured Poseidon with my own power and proved I was no longer the scared and powerless girl he thought I was. The look on Poseidon's face was enough to let me know that I was a legitimate threat now.

"Dwei! Forget that guy's Persona and help Poseidon!" the Hero ordered his demon.

The large lizard ignored Shu and spun around to face my Persona. It released a ear-splitting roar and fired a massive ball of flames at Robin Hood.

I changed my Persona out of reflex, making Robin Hood disappear into the Temperance card. The Arcana flashed and spun until it became the Fool card. My original Persona Ran appeared and she respond exactly how I imagined. Ran swung her arms in front of her and summoned twin torrents of saltwater at the incoming ball of flames. Our attacks connected and an explosion of dense steam was the result. The steam hid my Persona from sight but that also meant that Poseidon was hidden too.

I felt a sharp pain come from my side as it felt like someone had just barely cut me with a knife. I knew in an instant that Poseidon had grazed my Ran with his trident.

I turned to Hiroki. "Hiroki, get rid of that steam with Shu," I ordered. I then turned my eyes to Chikako. "And Chikako, you make Aphrodite attack with my Persona."

My friends gave me a silent nod.

"Be careful! They're going to attack!" Fuuka warned us. "Dwei's going to use a fire attack and Poseidon will try to catch your Persona's off-guard."

Happening just as Fuuka warned us it would, Dwei roared and blasted another ball of flames at My Persona. Ran was still inside the steam fog, making it hard for me to know where to aim her spells.

"Shu! Use Magarula!" Hiroki ordered his Persona.

Shu flew in front of the ball of flames the instant after Hiroki ordered and begun to spin his whole ball of flames and the steam fog disappeared into the twister of green wind created by Shu. It took some effort but Ran managed to resist being pulled into Shu's twister. Poseidon managed to resist being pulled too and was about ready to strike Ran with his trident.  
>"Zionga!" Chikako yelled.<p>

A bolt of lightning struck Poseidon by surprise, causing the god to yell as electricity coursed through his body. Ran took the opening made from Chikako's surprise attack and gave Poseidon a sharp kick into his side. Poseidon's body shot through the cavern until he crashed into the rock wall.

"Hey! I thought you were supposed to be a god?" the Hero yelled. "Why can't you just smite these guys or something?"

Poseidon didn't answer the Hero, instead choosing to remain silent. An eerie aura filled the cavern while me and my friends kept our eyes on the injured god. For some reason, Dwei had stopped rampaging. In fact, it seemed like the creature was terrified of what was coming. The temperature in the cavern suddenly decreased and the ground under our feet began to shake.

"So much disrespect..." Poseidon's voice echoed throughout the cavern.

"It's getting too dangerous to stay here," Fuuka said dismissing her Persona. "Juno sensed something really bad coming from Poseidon."

"Fuuka's right," Yu said stepping forward. He stood in front of our group, facing the angry god. "You guys have to retreat..."

"Are you planning to stay behind?" Hiroki asked.

Looking at him, Yu was definitely planning to stay behind. Out of the five of us, I was sure that Yu had the greatest chance to survive whatever Poseidon was going to bring out. He managed to defeat a god before, so what reason would there be for him not to do it again? Unlike the rest of us, he had a chance against the god of the sea.

At least, I hope so...

I looked around until I saw the tunnel out of the cavern. "We have to retreat!" I ordered, pointing at the tunnel. "It must be taking some time but Poseidon is getting stronger every second we stay here. Yu will be staying behind to make sure Poseidon doesn't chase after us when he's done charging. He's the only one among us that has a chance of returning alive so don't worry about him! We can't win this battle so let's retreat to fight another day!"

My friends understood that they couldn't hope to face the incoming danger and didn't bother to question my order to retreat. My friends ran with me towards the exit, leaving behind Yu to fight Poseidon. I felt a little guilt about leaving him behind but I knew we stood no chance against a angry Poseidon. I just had to hope he could fight Poseidon long enough for us to find out how to turn this reality back to normal.

The Hero's laughter echoed throughout the cavern. "You can't run from a boss battle!"

In an instant, Dwei's massive body fell in front of us, blocking our exit. I found myself backing away from the demonic lizard that glared down at us. Its large and black eyes looked at us as if we were its prey that decided to fight back, which I guess we were.

"Ran! Get this reptile out of our way!" I ordered my Persona.

Ran rammed her body into the demonic lizard's side but she didn't have enough strength to move Dwei.

"Aphrodite! Help her out!"

You too, Shu!"

Aphrodite and Shu joined my Persona and rammed their bodies into Dwei's side. Combined with Ran's strength, our Persona managed to move the demonic lizard enough to allow us to get past it. We ran into the tunnel while our Persona held Dwei back. Even with the combined strength of our three Persona, it only took Dwei half a minute to smack them aside with its tail. Chikako, Hiroki, and I ignored the pain coming from our Persona and continued to run after dismissing the Persona.

"It can't follow us," I said looking back. "It's too big to fit..."

I regret saying that because the moment after I spoke, I saw the Hero jump on top of Dwei's head. The Hero slapped his gloved hand in between its eyes and began pulling out black globs of something out of the demonic lizard, causing it to shrink the more he pulled out the black globs. When he was done, Dwei was small enough to chase after us, scratching its scales and armor against the rock wall while it ran.

"Run Faster!" I screamed, sprinting past my friends.

After seeing the smaller Dwei chasing us, my friends had the same reaction and sprinted with me through the dark tunnel. The demonic lizard's roaring echoed down the tunnel, causing large clouds of rock dust to fall on us. The noise of its feet stomping into the floor got closer and closer despite every one of us running at full speed.

"Use Pillar of Flames, Dwei!" The Hero ordered his demon.

I turned my head back while still running and saw Dwei blasting out a pillar of flames at us from within its mouth. The pillar of flames was much smaller than last time but in this small space, there was no room to dodge the attack. The pillar of flames was also moving through the tunnel at a much faster speed than our running. We would be roasted before we reached the end of the tunnel.

I stopped running and turned to face the pillar of flames coming at us.

"We have to keep running, Kimi!" Chikako yelled, turning around. Hiroki and Fuuka also stopped running and turned around to face me.

"You guys continue!" I yelled back. "Don't worry about me! I'll be right behind you after I stop this Demon's attack!"

I gave Chikako a look at my expression and that seemed to be enough to make my friend believe in me. She and the others continued running towards the end of the tunnel while I stayed behind to hold back Dwei.

"Persona!" I yelled, moving my eyes back to the threat coming at me.

Ran appeared in a flash of blue aura and swung her arms at the pillar of flames in front of us. Torrents of saltwater slammed into the pillar of flames, filling the tunnel with burning steam. My tank top and skirt got drenched from the steam but my attention stayed on the demon in front of me somewhere in the fog of steam.

"Come out, Musashi!" I yelled holding my hand up to Ran.

Ran disappeared in a flash of blue aura into the Arcana card for the Fool. The Arcana card spun until the Fool image on the card changed into the Emperor. Musashi jumped out of the Emperor card and took out both of his swords in an instant. Dwei must have known I summoned Musashi because the moment after he was summoned, the demonic lizard came out of the fog of steam and tackled my Persona. I gritted my teeth and felt my arms burn because Musashi was holding Dwei back with his swords.

"You got yourself one strong Persona," the Hero laughed from his seat on Dwei's back. "To hold back one of the Demons I created is impressive. I'm having so much fun playing with you, Kimi Amaya. Nothing you do is within our expectations!"

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Me? You want to know who I am?" the Hero asked, pointing a single finger at himself while tilting his head to the side. He chuckled and raised his arms. "Why, I am the Hero! I am the one who defeats the forces of evil and give hope to the masses! I am the one who shall help humanity remember the better days! A champion that fights evil and saves the normal people! That is me! The Hero!"

This guy's loud voice was giving me a headache but his words was making me grind my teeth.

"How can you call yourself the Hero?!" I yelled back. "You're fighting with Poseidon! Don't you know he's been helping someone steal people's memories? Fighting for Poseidon makes you the bad guy, not a hero!"

"I'm not the bad guy! You are!" the Hero screamed, jumping to his feet and glaring at me from behind his mask. "You and the rest of humanity forgot who Heroes truly are! As the Hero, I shall make you remember the good days when Heroes were celebrated and praised! I will help Poseidon raise the Tower of-"

The Hero stopped himself and started laughing again. "Oops, I almost gave you an important piece of information," he laughed. "That would have been bad."

I felt Dwei start to overpower Musashi, the demonic lizard's strength starting to make my Persona's swords crack. I noticed that the black blobs the Hero had pulled out of Dwei were being injected back into the demonic lizard, causing it to grow in size and strength. The Demon might have been getting stuck because it was becoming too big but its strength was returning to normal. Musashi wouldn't be able to hold it back anymore.

I dismissed Musashi and started running away immediately.

"Don't think you can run away!" the Hero yelled.

Dwei began to chase after me but its increased size caused the demonic lizard to become slower. It had a much harder time moving through the tunnel and that gave me a advantage over the Demon.

But despite being chased by a demon dinosaur, my thoughts focused on the Hero. Something about him felt wrong to me. Maybe it was just because he's thinking that he is the good guy that's unsettling but for some reason, I didn't believe that was it. The Hero may be fighting for Poseidon and the one behind the Nostalgia Line but I didn't believe he was being honest. There was another reason hidden in his words.

I just didn't have the time to find them.

"Stop her, guys!" the Hero laughed.

Black globs of something fell in front of me from the ceiling. I didn't bother to stop running, making the black globs let out a sharp cry after my shoes stomped over them. Whatever they were going to turn into, I didn't bother to see. I continued to run through the dark tunnel, ignoring the yelling from the Hero and the roaring of Dwei behind my back. Soon, I saw the silver light coming from the end of the tunnel. I forgot my burning legs and arms as a burst of strength came over my body. I sprinted and kept sprinting until I ran out of the tunnel at full speed. It took a little effort to stop myself after I ran of the tunnel but I stopped and hurried to find my friends.

Chikako and Hiroki were standing next to the tunnel but their eyes weren't on me. Instead, they stared at the shaking Fuuka. Fuuka was staring up at the sky, terrified at whatever she saw. Curious, I turned around and looked up at the sky...

"What the hell?!" I screamed taking a step back.

Up in the sky, there was a full moon, which by itself should be impossible since it midday, but the moon's presence wasn't what surprised me.

The damn moon was freaking huge! The moon looked as if it was floating right above the town, almost hidden from sight behind the red-tinted clouds. Seeing the moon explained why everything was illuminated with silver light but I wanted to know why the moon was so huge. Fuuka must have an idea why because she was terrified of the huge moon.

"I don't know what's wrong with her, Kimi," Chikako told me when I walked over to them.

"Ever since we left the tunnel, she's been like this," Hiroki added.

I grabbed Fuuka's shoulder and forced her to look at me. Tears were trickling down her face while she stared at me with fear in her eyes. "What's happening, Fuuka?" I asked. "Do you know something about that moon?"

"It's impossible," she whispered. "This reality shouldn't exist anymore!"

"You remember this forgotten time?" the Hero's voice asked. "I thought everybody forgot about the moon falling on Tatsumi Port Island. I might have only been a kid at the time but it was so terrifying to see the moon fall. But even I forgot about it before I received this power and remembered everything that happened during that forgotten hour..."

We turned our eyes to the Hero, who had came out of the tunnel while sitting on Dwei's back. the demonic lizard was growing in front of our sight, soon returning to the size it was back in the cavern. The massive Demon glared at us but didn't move any closer because of the Hero. I got ready to summon any one of my Persona but the Hero didn't attack. Instead, he eyed Fuuka with what I guessed was interest.

"Moon falling? Forgotten Hour? I don't understand what you're talking about!" I yelled at the Hero.

"Do you know anything about this, Yamagishi-san?" Hiroki asked Fuuka.

"The Dark Hour..." Fuuka whispered.

"That's right," the Hero chuckled. "It might be different this time around but..."

"I brought back the Dark Hour!" 


	19. Chapter 19 Here Comes the High Priestess

"Get rid of them, Dwei! But leave that woman! I want her memories!" the Hero ordered his Demon. He grinned. "I want to perfect my version of the Dark Hour..."

Dwei obeyed his master and gave his loudest roar yet, causing even the ground to shake underneath our feet. We didn't hesitate to summon our Persona when the Demon charged at us. Shu and Aphrodite were the first to make contact with Dwei but they were smacked away easily by the Demon's tail.

"Don't use Physical attacks," Fuuka warned us from within Juno's protective shell. Her voice in our heads tried to sound calm but I knew she was still shaken about learning what this reality was. "That Demon is extremely strong against Physical attacks..."

"Okay, don't use Physical attacks," I said, keeping my eyes on the incoming Dwei. "But does it have any weakness?"

"I don't know," Fuuka answered. "Juno is having problems sensing Dwei's life energy. She only has this problem when the enemy she's sensing is strong enough to block the signal."

"So we have to find out its weaknesses ourselves," I whispered.

My Persona Ran flew at the rampaging Dwei but was smacked away just as fast as the others. An intense pain sliced down from my shoulder to my thigh, reflecting the pain my Ran had just received. Despite feeling so much pain, I willed Ran to fly back towards Dwei.

"Bufula!" I yelled.

Hearing my casting of a spell caused Hiroki and Chikako to yell their own spells.

"Zionga!"

"Garula!"

A beam of ice, a arc of lightning, and a large green twister came out of our Persona's hands and struck Dwei. Our three spells fused together and exploded, sending Dwei flailing backwards in pain. The spells managed to hurt the lizard but it wasn't enough to finish it off. We only gave the massive lizard a few cuts and burnt skin, not to mention giving it an increased desire to sink its teeth into our bodies.

"Persona change!" I yelled.

Ran disappeared into the Fool Arcana card within the blue aura. The card spun until it was no longer the Fool card. There was only three more Arcana I could use and I picked one without thinking.

"Chariot!" I yelled. "Take the stage, Black Knight!"

The card flashed with blue aura and changed into the Chariot Arcana. Sounds of hoofs stomping against the ground echoed from within the spinning Chariot Arcana. In a second, a horse flew out of the Chariot card and a black lance shot forward. My new Persona struck Dwei before it was fully formed but it had managed to stab the massive lizard's scales with its black lance. Dwei roared in pain and jumped away, blood pouring out of the wound caused by my new Persona.

The Black Knight's horse whined and lifted its huge body upwards, letting its master yell a mighty battle cry while he lifted his black lance into the air. Black medieval armor covered Black Knight from his head to his feet and his horse also had a steel helmet fashioned around its head. The Black Knight's horse had skin that looked like a starry night sky, black with hundreds of stars painted on.

"That's so cool!" The Hero laughed from his seat on a rock above the tunnel's entrance. "You brought some kind of knight as a Persona! Tell me, how do you have so many Persona! Everyone else only gets one. What makes you so special that you can use more than one? Do you think you're the hero?"

"I'm not some kind of manga hero!" I yelled back at him. I had enough of his annoying 'hero this hero that' talk. "This is reality! There's no villain that wants to conquer the world and no hero to fight him! There's only good and bad people in our reality! There are heroes and villains in this world but they aren't the same as the ones you find on TV or manga. Unlike you, I don't have a childish desire to want to be a hero but what you guys are doing goes against what I believe is right! I'll stop you, Poseidon, and whoever's behind the Nostalgia Line from stealing other's memories with every bit of power I have!"

Black Knight gave another battle cry, reflecting my feelings, and made his horse gallop towards the injured Dwei. The weakened massive lizard blasted a pillar of flame at the Black Knight but my Persona split the flames in half by pointing its lance forward. The flames increased in strength, giving me a few burns when they touched the Black Knight, but my Persona continued forward.

"Throw his lance into Dwei's mouth, Amaya-san!" Fuuka told me.

I listened to Fuuka and made the Black Knight throw his lance forward. The lance pierced the pillar of flames but it was slowing down. The lance didn't have enough strength to pierce all the way through.

"Garula!" Hiroki yelled.

Shu flew in front of the Black Knight and threw his hand in front of him, blasting a twister of green wind at the black lance. The twister struck my Persona's lance and sent it shooting through the flames and into Dwei's mouth. The lance exploded out of Dwei's tail and didn't stop until it lodged itself into the trunk of a tree after piercing through over twenty other trees.

Dwei, despite just having a lance shoot through its body, gave one weak roar and jumped at us, hoping to crush us with its last breath.

"I got this!" Chikako yelled. "Aphrodite! Zionga!"

Chikako's Persona flew between us and Dwei. She smiled and pointed a single finger up at the falling Demon. Electricity built up inside Aphrodite's gold body until she released every volt. A single but powerful arc of lightning struck Dwei. The spell finished the job, killing the Demon. Dwei roared as it exploded into a cloud of red and black smoke. The smoke disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. My eyes fell on the small and normal lizard that fell on the dirt. The lizard ran away the moment its legs touched the dirt.

"We won!" Chikako cried throwing her arms up into the air.

"I had no doubt we would succeed," Hiroki said pushing up his glasses.

"It wasn't easy but we did it," Fuuka said relieved

I sighed as I slouched forward. "We aren't finished yet," I said.

My friends moved their attention to the silent Hero sitting on top of a rock above the tunnel's entrance. The Hero had one gloved hand balled into a fist while the other made sure his mask didn't fall off. His body was trembling enough that even I could see it from where I stood. The whirring sound that I had been ignoring till now had started becoming louder. To my surprise, steam was rising out of the Hero's sleeves and his uniform was now becoming drenched. Drops of water dripped from the tips of his leather shoes.

"What's wrong, Hero? Mad that we broke your toy?" I yelled at the Hero while grinning.

"I'M NOT A CHILD!" the Hero screamed, jumping into the air.

His scream echoed throughout our surroundings, causing us to flinch. Our wariness, however, wasn't needed because the moment the Hero's feet touched the ground, he fell forward. We watched as clouds of steam came out of the Hero's uniform. Whatever skin we could see on the Hero's body was incredibly red and sweat flowed down his chin.

"Don't call me a kid..." the Hero gasped as he forced himself to his feet. "Wanting to be a Hero is not childish..."

The Hero fell forward on his knees and was breathing loud enough for us to hear him.

"Damn thing! Why does it only last one hour before becoming too hot?!" He yelled. "I have to find some way to cool it before-"

The Hero stopped mid-sentence and instantly turned his head towards the tunnel's entrance. It took a bit longer, but I noticed the same thing he did. Further into the tunnel, we felt the same kind of impossible power radiating from within. So much power was coming from within the tunnel and I already knew who it was coming from.

"Yu..." I whispered.

"How the hell is he so powerful?" the Hero cried. "That's cheating! You can't have such a powerful party member so early! That's a serious problem!"

The Hero threw his cape to the side and undid the buttons on his uniform's jacket. Before we could see what was underneath the jacket, a burst of intense lightning exploded out of the tunnel, blocking our view of the Hero. The lightning was so powerful that the ground it touched was bright red and bubbling when it became smaller. The lightning disappeared and so did the Hero, obviously taking advantage of the lightning blocking both of us from reaching the other.

"Where did he go?" Hiroki asked looking around.

"He escaped," Chikako told Hiroki. "He lost so he ran away..."

"Who cares about him?" I yelled. "We have to help Yu!"

The other three went silent and nodded. My friends ran with me into the tunnel but it didn't take long before we found Yu walking towards us. The young man was holding his right arm and almost every inch of his body was covered in bleeding cuts. Yu saw me running to him and gave me a smile and a thumbs-up before collapsing. I reached the young man before his body hit the ground and strained my arms to gently place him against the floor. I couldn't see him breathing and placing my ear against his chest, I couldn't feel any heartbeat...

"Wake up, Yu!" I yelled pushing my hands down on his chest.

I don't know why but seeing him like this made my heart feel like it was in a steel grip. I don't know why I started crying as I continued to try to revive him. It was my fault that he was like this.I knew Poseidon would be too hard of a fight, even for someone who fought gods before. If only I chose to stay behind instead of running away, maybe I could've helped him fight Poseidon and he wouldn't be like this...

Then I heard him groan.

"Yu!" I cried relieved.

"He's alright," Chikako said letting out a breath of relief.

"Don't go scaring us like that," Fuuka sighed.

I noticed Yu open his eyes and that he was staring right at me.

"Bl..." Yu's whisper was too low for me to hear him.

"Don't talk, Yu," I told him. "We have to get you to the hospitol as fast as we can."

"Bla..." he still tried to whisper something but I couldn't hear him.

"Stop trying to talk," I yelled, getting somewhat annoyed.

Yu strained himself to give me another thumbs-up.

"Black bra..." he whispered. "C-cup..."

Maybe it was the fighting or the fact that Yu almost died in front of me that made me forgot a very important thing about the white tank-top I wore. When I was fighting Dwei in the tunnel, I had made a cloud of steam, which had made my tank-top drenched. Meaning...

I don't remember what I tried to do or yelled while my friends dragged me out of that tunnel.

...

By the time we got Yu to a hospital, the reality the Hero brought had disappeared and the normal sun burned my skin from its spot in the sky. It disappeared just like it had came, by having everything it affected turn back into normal. Despite being gone, I couldn't help but stare up at the blue sky while I sat on a white bench in front of the entrance to Umizuo's local hospital. My pale skin was burning in the sunlight but I was thinking too much to care.

Who was the Hero and how did he manage to change reality like that? Fuuka called that reality the Dark Hour but that made more questions. According to what Fuuka had said, the Dark Hour shouldn't exist anymore and going from the Hero's words, nobody remembered the Dark Hour except him, Fuuka, and her friends. Whoever the Hero was working with made him remember the Dark Hour and gave him the means to recreate that reality with some changes. All I was sure of was that whoever gave the Hero the ability to recreate the Dark Hour was the same person who gave the man in my dream the ability to create the Nostalgia Line. There was someone using the man in my dream, the Hero, and the Greek God Poseidon for some unknown purpose All I had to go on was the Hero's words about their plans having something to do with a Tower...

"You're going to catch something if you think so much in this sun," Fuuka's voice said from my side.

I turned my head to see Fuuka take a seat next to me on the bench. Her normal calm expression was back but I could still see some of that terrified expression that she had when she saw the massive moon in the Hero's warped reality.

"So much happened and none of it explains anything," I told Fuuka. "The Hero is wearing my school's uniform and he recreated something that happened in the past. Then there's the person behind the Nostalgia Line and Poseidon. I didn't think I could handle just the Nostalgia Line and yet, the Hero comes along with his recreated Dark Hour..."

"That reality isn't the Dark Hour," Fuuka told me. "Now that I have time to think about it, there's just too many things wrong about that reality for it to be the Dark Hour."

"Like what?" I asked.

"If you saw the real Dark Hour, you would understand, Amaya-san," Fuuka answered looking forward with her hands placed on her lap. "Back then, the Dark Hour was far more cold and hopeless. Everything seemed to stop... machines, people, and even time itself felt like it was slowing down because of the Dark Hour. What the Hero created didn't feel anything like the Dark Hour I experienced. I was too terrified of thinking that the Dark Hour was back, that I didn't see that what the Hero created was far too different to be called the Dark Hour."

"I guess what scared me more than anything was thinking that I had to fight in the Dark Hour without our Leader," Fuuka said looking down at the grass. "But then I looked at you, Amaya-san, and I thought my friend Minato-kun was already by my side fighting. Minato was far more laid-back than both you and Narukami-san but what I found out is that you three all have the same strength in your hearts. That same strength to be leaders and bring together a group of individuals for a single goal."

"I'm sorry but I don't want to be compared to your friend, Yamagishi-san," I said. "The only person I am is Kimi Amaya and nobody else."

To my surprise, Fuuka chuckled.

"I wasn't comparing you to him, Amaya-san," Fuuka chuckled. "Minato-kun is too special a person for anyone to be like him..."

Fuuka placed her hand on my back and looked at me. Her blue eyes had an incredibly calming feeling to them and I felt a little better when I looked into Fuuka's eyes.

"And so are you, Amaya-san," Fuuka said smiling. "You and Narukami-san are individuals too special to be compared to anyone else. Nobody else can have the exact same strength of heart that you have."

Fuuka's words, combined with her calming aura, made my heart feel a bond form between us.

I am thou... and thou art I...

Thou hast established a new bond...

It brings thou closer to a new life...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Persona of the High Priestess Arcana...

Time restarted and thanks to Fuuka, I felt a little better.

Fuuka grabbed my hand and stood up. "Let's go and see how Narukami-san is doing, Amaya-san..."

...

Any worry I should have had for Yu disappeared once I saw the young man wrapped in many bandages eating plates of hospital food in the Cafeteria. The doctor was surprised to see how fast he had recovered, despite the many injuries he had all over his body. All the doctor told him to do was to get a lot of rest and replace his bandages every now and then. Seeing him eating so much made me wonder if we even needed to bring him to a hospital.

I knew I should have been mad at him for making me worry but my stomach growled too much for me to care. I found myself buying a few packaged sandwiches before I sat down with Yu and Fuuka.

"Where's the other two?" Yu asked, taking a break from eating. "Hiroki and Chikako had to go back home, especially after they heard you were more than alright," I answered, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Amaya-san," Yu said giving me another one of his incredibly small yet cute smiles.

Why can I not get mad at him whenever he brings out that smile?

"Amaya-san, be careful whenever you meet Poseidon," Yu told me, dropping his usual tone and switching it for a more serious voice.

I had hoped Yu defeated the god but I knew that he wouldn't so easy to defeat, even by someone who faced gods before.

"You sensed something wrong about Poseidon, didn't you, Yamagishi-san?" Yu asked, turning his eyes to Fuuka.

Fuuka looked down as she answered. "Someone very powerful is limiting Poseidon's strength," she said. "That's what Juno sensed when he tried to release more of his power."

"Wait, every time I fought Poseidon, he wasn't fighting at full strength?" I asked, surprised to hear about Poseidon's handicap.

"If he was, I would be dead right now," Yu answered.

Yu went to tell me about his fight with Poseidon. The god had finished bringing out every bit of power he could and while the fight was more or less even between them, Yu was losing because he hadn't used his Persona for years. He was forced to use his strongest Persona and while it was strong enough to defeat Poseidon, Yu had been interrupted by a third party. Someone else had struck Yu's Persona with a wave of Shadows, letting Poseidon strike his Persona with his strongest attack. The only reason he survived was because he used his strongest attack to flood the cavern with lightning, which gave him enough time to escape. We found him not long after that.

"Poseidon is a fearsome opponent The Hero and the person behind the Nostalgia Line are also worthy of attention," Yu said. "But they aren't your real enemies, Amaya-san. There are two people warping reality in this town but where did they gain this power to warp reality? And why is a weakened god being forced to help these two?"

"There's someone behind the scenes moving the Hero and the Nostalgia Line creator like puppets," I said.

I knew where he was going with this and while I already knew about there being a person behind everything in Umizuo, hearing it come from Yu made this person far more terrifying than I had first thought.

" That person is capable of giving others the ability to warp reality and can force gods to their will," Yu said.

" Whoever this person is, he is the real enemy you must defeat, Amaya-san..."


	20. Chapter 20: The Emperor's Hanged Man

Yu left Umizuo the next day after our battle with the Hero.

He didn't want to make a big deal we only had a small farewell party the night before he left. Yosuke joked about how Yu should take some more time off college but we knew that he couldn't forget his studies, even if there was something going on in Umizuo. I would have liked to have someone as strong as Yu on our team for the future battles but I understood his reason for leaving. I wouldn't want to fall behind in my studies, especially if I wanted to get my money's worth out of college. Even now, with all that's going on in this town, I'm not falling behind in class. In fact, I was the top student at my last school.

Getting back to Yu's departure, I was given one piece of advice when the party was over.

"Spend a little more time with your friends, Amaya-san," he told me.

That was it. That little piece of advice was the last words Yu said to me.

After school, I decided to follow on the advice he gave me and went for the friend who needed my help most at the moment.

"Lift that side, Amaya-san!" Hiroki yelled at me.

"Hey, you're the male here! You put some more strength into lifting this damn box!" I yelled back.

Hiroki and I both groaned as we carried a box full to the top with documents. Hiroki needed my help to bring these old documents from the old school building to the Teacher's Room. Since Yu told me to spend a little more time with my friends, I decided to help him out. It would have been fine if he needed help with math or some other student council business but I didn't know the Student Council was another name for errand boy.

My arms were sore when we finally gave the box to Arakawa-sensei, the school's science teacher. He remained silent as he gestured us to leave.

"That bastard didn't even bother to thank us," I said after we left the Teacher's Room.

"Teachers are like that these days," Hiroki told me. "Students are no longer children who want to be taught and teachers are no longer the adults that want to pass on the knowledge and wisdom gained from their years."

"That doesn't mean he couldn't at least say a simple 'Thank you'."

"I guess you're right, Amaya-san," Hiroki said pushing up his glasses.

Hiroki chuckled a little and turned his head to face me. "If it's not much trouble, can you come with me to the council's classroom?"

I tilted my head to the side. "For what reason?" I asked.

Hiroki gave me a small smile. "I need some help with other student council business," he answered. "Our Treasurer decided to abruptly quit the student council and we need a new one. From what I can gather, you are a rather exceptional math student."

"I am in other clubs, you know? Chikako's club and the Soccer club, remember?"

"Oh, I know," he chuckled. "I can do most of the council work by myself but I do need a someone to be the Treasurer, even if its only in name. You'll only need to participate in the weekly meetings once a week and I assure you that's all you'll need to do."

If I only needed to participate in one meeting a week, then I guess I could help Hiroki out with his problem. My other club responsibilities wouldn't be affected much if I decided to become the Student Council's Treasurer.

"I guess I can help you out if I only have to be at the weekly meetings," I said shrugging.

"Thank you, Amaya-san," Hiroki said smiling. "And thank you for helping me with the box too."

I could feel the gratitude Hiroki felt in his smile. He honestly felt gracious for my help today and because of that, I felt our relationship become a little stronger.

Hiroki's smile went away as he asked another question. "I forgot to ask," he said. "Did Hanamura-san or Yamagishi-san say anything about the Nostalgia Line yesterday?"

"Not much," I answered.

Hiroki frowned. "No one else received the message either, I guess."

"That's a good thing," I told him. "I don't want anyone else to enter that world like we did. Bad memories are supposed to stay memories. Whoever is behind this has no right to open up old scars, no matter what the reason."

If only I could have saw that man's face in my dream, then I could have at least gave Fuuka a lead on finding him. Tracing his number from the text messages led to a dead end. All we could do at the moment was wait for him to make the move, to wait for his next target to appear. Its been some time since Hiroki was transported to the Nostalgia Line but the next target could appear anytime. Waiting for the next target to appear was stressful.

"There's also the problem with the He-"

"Kimi! Hiroki-kun!"

Hiroki and I turned around when we heard Chikako yell for us from farther down the hallway. My friend ran and stopped in front of us. Without explaining her reason, she shoved a paper into both of our hands. Chikako stared and waited eagerly for our reactions while we read the paper she gave us.

_WHO IS THE HERO?_

_Several days ago, our great town of Umizuo has witnessed the rise of its very own superhero, a young man who simply refers to himself as The Hero. Ever since his first heroic act of saving a child from being run over, The Hero has since been seen doing many heroic acts around town. From saving children to taking out local gangs, The Hero has been helping out the local community in so many ways. But who is this mysterious hero that appeared so suddenly? If anyone has information as to who is behind the mask of The Hero, please give this information to Miyako Yuda, the Editor-in-chief of the School's Newspaper._

"I found this article on the school's website," Chikako told us.

"Wait, does this mean the Hero was around before we met him yesterday?" I asked.

"According to this article, he was," Hiroki answered.

"Then how the hell did we not notice him? Someone going around calling himself as ridiculous a name as 'The Hero' would have gotten enough attention for either of us to notice."

Hiroki scratched his chin. "Maybe we did hear about him," he answered.

Chikako and I gave him a curious expression. Hiroki noticed our expressions and told us his reasoning.

"The Hero might have been on the news but we didn't know what we know today at the time," Hiroki explained. "We might've heard about him in the news or rumors but decided to forget about him because it wasn't important at the time. Now that we know he's connected to the Nostalgia Line, any information about him has importance."

"Oh, I get it," Chikako said swinging a fist into her other hand's palm. "We didn't pay any attention to him before because he was just some guy going around helping people."

"That'll get him some attention but we had better things to worry about," I said.

Worrying about who would get the Nostalgia line message next had made us forget to pay attention to The Hero. He had been the attention of the town for several days but we cared more about investigating the Nostalgia Line rather than checking out local news.

"This article says to talk to the Newspaper's Miyako Yuda if you have any information on The Hero," I noticed looking at the paper in my hands again. I looked up at Hiroki. "Where can I find the Newspaper's clubroom?"

Hiroki gave the directions to the School Newspaper's clubroom.

"Going to investigate this, huh?" Chikako said smiling.

"Someone needs to check this out," I told my friend. "I'll call to tell you what I find."

"Alright," Chikako said.

"Good luck," Hiroki said.

I waved goodbye to my friends and left to find the School Newspaper's clubroom.

…

The School's Newspaper clubroom was more… devoid of life than I thought.

Two desks with a single computer screen on each were placed on both sides of the room but only one of the desks were occupied. Pushing up her glasses or flicking her long wavy hair out of her eyes every few seconds, this lone girl worked with a determined expression. Her eyes didn't even glance up from her thin laptop when I appeared in front of her. She continued to type away on her laptop despite me waving my hand in the hopes of getting her attention.

I don't have time to wait for her to notice me…

"Hey!" I yelled.

Instead of jumping like I expected, the girl grabbed the stapler next to the laptop and, to my surprise, threw it at my head. Thankfully, I had fast enough reflexes to swing my head out of the thrown stapler's path.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled after the thrown stapler bounced off the wall on the other side of the room.

The girl frowned as she straightened her back. It was obvious she was slumped in front of her laptop for some time. This must be the first time she stretched for some time because she stretched her whole body before taking notice of my presence.

We stared at each other for over a minute…

"Are you going to say anything?" I asked.

The girl shook her head.

I sighed. "Are you Miyako Yuda?"

The girl gave me a nod.

"Can you tell anything you know about the Hero?" I asked not bothering to hide my intentions.

Miyako shook her head.

"Do you know something about the Hero?"

Miyako nodded.

"You just don't want to talk, huh?"

Miyako nodded again.

"Not even if I have information about the Hero?"

I sighed while Miyako had just the reaction I expected. She grinned and jumped out of her chair, taking my hand and shaking it in a hurry.

"I'm very sorry for my past behavior," Miyako said smiling. Her voice was a little high. "I am the Editor-in-chief of the School's newspaper, Miyako Yuda."

She offered me her hand and I shook it.

"I'm Kimi Amaya," I told her. Always good manners to give my name when someone gives me theirs. "I'm here because an article on the school website said you were the person to go to for any information on the Hero."

"That's right," Miyako said. "Ever since his first appearance, I've been documenting whatever I can find out about him. Overall, he saved more than nine different people from accidents and gave a beating to two groups of delinquents, each group having more than ten young men. Every witness says the Hero is wearing the uniform of our school with a Kamen Rider mask on his face and has the voice of a teenager. He must be a student at our school…"

Miyako giggled. "Its so awesome to have a real hero at our school," she said wearing an excited smile.

Oh great… Miyako is a hero fangirl…

"Are you so sure he's a real superhero?" I asked.

"He protects the defenseless and vanquishes evil," Miyako said still sounding excited. "Is there any other definition of a hero?"

"None that come to mind," I answered. If being a hero means lying to everyone while devising a way to steal everyone's memories, then maybe the Hero actually is a real hero.

A question came to mind. "Does anyone who saw the Hero ever say they're missing any memories? Like they can't remember something?"

"Like amnesia? I don't think so…" Miyako answered giving me a puzzled expression. Miyako then looked as if something came to her. "But there was one case…"

"One case?"

Miyako's eyes looked away from mine. "One member of a gang the Hero defeated claimed to have forgotten the last week," she answered. "Nobody could explain it but the delinquent woke up thinking it was Tuesday of last week. I can only imagine the surprise he must have felt when he found out it was Thursday a week later."

This is it. This is the information I was looking for. The Hero was stealing other people's memories, just like the creator of the Nostalgia Line. How he was doing it, I had no idea but Miyako helped me figure out that whatever his purpose was, it had something to do with the stolen memories from the Nostalgia Line victims.

Someone needs these stolen memories but for what reason?

"Hey! What are you doing looking so into thought?"

Miyako's voice interrupted my train of thought. Apparently I was deep into thought for a whole minute.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," I apologized. "Sometimes I think so much that I tune out everything else."

"That's alright but I want you to give me the information you have on the Hero," Miyako said sounding annoyed.

Miyako wouldn't like to hear the information I had about the Hero but I had to tell her.

"The Hero isn't as heroic as you might think," I told her. "He's connected to the increasing cases of amnesia in Umizuo."

"Connected? How?"

I didn't bother to answer her questions. I turned around and headed for the door out.

Miyako, however, grabbed my shoulder and stopped me from exiting. I wanted to leave as soon as possible but it seems this girl won't let that happen.

"You know what, Kimi-chan? I think you would make a great reporter someday," Miyako said smiling suspiciously. "You have that incredible desire to search for the truth. Maybe you and I can go search for some juicy stories sometimes…"

I don't know why but Miyako saw some sort of talent for journalism in me. She looked at me with the eyes of someone who expected great things from me. Miyako saw the potential for a good story in me and I could feel it.

I could also feel a faint bond form between me and the Editor-in-chief of the School's Newspaper.

_Thou art I… and I art thou…_

_Thou hast established a genuine bond…_

_It brings thee closer to a new life…_

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana…_

Hanged Man this time? Seriously, how much Arcana do I have left?

"Well, I got to get going," I said bowing to Miyako.

"Sure but you better come back if you get some real information on the Hero," she said grinning. "Seriously, trying to get me to believe the Hero is some kind of villain fooling us."

So she didn't believe me?

I sighed. I knew this would happen if I told anyone the truth about the Hero.

I decided to play along. "Haha, you got me, huh?" I laughed. "I just wanted to hear more about the Hero."

At least I was still telling the truth.

Miyako laughed with me. "I don't blame you," she laughed. "Whoever this Hero is, I'm sure he's really hot. I wouldn't mind having both a hot guy and superhero be my boyfriend…"

I laughed with her but my feet were doing their best to get me out of this room. After saying goodbye, I hurried to leave the room.

…..

"…And that's what I found out about the Hero," I said to my cell phone in front of me.

Chikako's voice responded from my cell phone's speaker.

"Sounds like he's stealing memories too," Chikako said.

After returning home and taking a shower, I called my friend while I leaned back in my room's black leather chair and dried my hair with a towel. The white bath robe I wore belonged to Sasaki but it was comfortable. The bath robe clung to my wet body but I ignored it while I talked to my friend.

"I don't have any proof but it's safe to say he is taking other people's memories," I told her jumping to my feet after I was done drying my hair.

"Why does this have to be so complicated, Kimi? I mean, whoever is doing this should just come out and face us instead of hiding in the shadows and scheming how to destroy the world…"

While Chikako was talking to me, I looked through my underwear to decide which ones I wanted to wear. Whenever I looked at any of my black underwear, I felt my face start to burn as I blushed. After a few minutes of Chikako's talking devolving into whether or not she should ask Hiroki out or not, I finally decided what to wear. Trying to snap my white bra on, however, I noticed a tiny problem.

"Damn it, it's getting tight again," I sighed.

Chikako stopped speaking. "…um, what was that, Kimi?" she asked.

"Nothing," I answered. "Just that my bra is getting tight again. And I just bought this one a few weeks ago too…"

To my surprise, Chikako started to sound disappointed. "Are you saying your breasts grew?" she asked.

I grinned at the question. "Oh, are you jealous, Chikako? Jealous that I'm starting to have big…"

Beeping from my cell phone interrupted me.

"What was that?" Chikako asked.

"It sounds like I got a text message," I answered.

"Is it from the Nostalgia Line?" Chikako said sounding scared.

I picked up my phone and opened up the recent messages. A wave of relief came over me when I found out it wasn't the Nostalgia Line.

Except my relief disappeared after I read the text.

"So is it from the Nostalgia Line?" Chikako asked.

"No," I answered. "It's from the Hero…"

"And he's telling me who's going to be next…"


	21. Chapter 21: Painful Music

"Naomi Ikeda? The Hero said she's going to be the next target?" Chikako asked.

"That's what the text said," I answered. "But I'm not sure we can trust the Hero. I mean, Naomi Ikeda is one of the two students we wanted to recruit for the Occult club. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not but we have to find out the pattern to these Nostalgia Line targets. The guy behind it can't be choosing people at random."

Chikako and I stared at each other for a few seconds until we both shrugged.

"I can't think of anything," Chikako sighed.

"Me neither," I said scratching my head.

I felt a headache coming to me while Chikako and I waited outside the Music club. For the last forty minutes, we've been waiting for the Music Club to end so we could talk to Naomi in the hopes we could prevent her from calling the Nostalgia Line. I, however, regretted choosing to stay outside the clubroom. Our school's Music Club weren't very talented so just about every sound that came out of the room made my headache worse. I had hoped we weren't going to stay any longer but so far, Naomi hadn't left the clubroom.

"Naomi Ikeda plays the violin," Chikako told me. "I heard that she's actually pretty good."

"A little talent might make this club more bearable," I said.

"You learn to tune it out after listening a few times," Chikako chuckled.

Thankfully, the current song the club members were playing was reaching its end. Chikako and I listened to the teacher inside the room give a short speech, dismissing the students when she finished. Over twelve students left the clubroom with their instruments. Chikako stared at each student that left the room but my friend didn't find Naomi Ikeda among them. The last person to leave the clubroom was Shikabe-sensei, the teacher in charge of the Music Club.

Chikako ran up to Shikabe-sensei and bowed to her. "Excuse me, Shikabe-sensei, but do you have any idea where Ikeda-san is?" she asked after raising her head.

Shikabe-sensei twirled her long brown hair around her finger as she answered Chikako's question.

"I would like to know where Ikeda-san is too," the teacher answered. "This isn't the first time she hasn't shown up for practice. Club members have to tell us teachers if they can't come to practice but that girl didn't tell me anything. If she wasn't our most talented member, I would have kicked her out of the club a long time ago…"

Chikako thanked Shikabe-sensei for answering her question and then left with me. After leaving the school grounds, I called Hiroki, Yosuke, and Fuuka to tell them to search for Naomi. My friends were going to search every corner of Umizuo to find this girl. If any of them found her, they were going to call me. Until then, however, I had to separate from Chikako and search around town.

I got a picture of Naomi from Fuuka a few minutes after I separated from Chikako. Using the picture, I could pick her out from a crowd. I thought of locations of where teenagers might gather and the first location that popped into my head was the arcade. A quick look at a map of Umizuo and I figured out that this town did have a arcade. I hurried to the arcade the moment after I found the directions to take.

Umizuo's arcade was easy to find, it being the only brightly colored building around with automatic sliding doors. Immediately upon stepping in front of the sliding doors, the doors opened and I was blasted with cool air. It was only after entering the air-conditioned arcade that I noticed how sweaty I was from staying in the sun for so long. The cool air was very welcomed but I had more important things to focus on.

A quick look around and I could already tell a lot of teens and kids come to this arcade after school. Almost every game in the arcade had someone looking down at the screen and even more teens crowded at the snack bar. I could even recognize some of the people in the crowd. Shoji hitting on a crowd of girls with as much succuss as I expected, Asuka focusing on the soccer video game in front of her, and even Miyako going around asking random people questions. I didn't have the time to deal with any of them so I moved around the arcade avoiding each one.

My plan, however, failed because somebody recognized me.

"Is that you, Kimi-chan?"

I knew that voice and taking a look behind my back proved that the voice belonged to Takei. The young man with the boyish face gave me a smile but his eyes remained focused on the screen below him. He continued talking despite his attention being on the game.

"You don't look like the person who plays video games," Takei said. "You look like the person who spends all day reading books. Not that reading is bad. Whenever I'm not playing video games, I read books of the speculative fiction genre. You know, science fiction and fantasy…"

"I'm sorry, Takei-san, but I don't have the time to talk," I told him.

To my surprise, Takei's smile quickly turned into a frown. His wide eyes narrowed and he let out a sigh.

"Don't mind me then, whatever you need to do is more important than whatever I want." Takei said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. He waved his hand at me. "I'll see you later, hopefully when you have time."

I sighed. I couldn't just leave now, not when Takei looked this disappointed at another chance to have a conversation with someone else. I had a feeling in my heart that if I left to search for Naomi right now, the faint bond I had with Takei would fall apart and disappear.

"I guess I can spend some time with you, Takei-san," I sighed.

As I expected, Takei's expression instantly brightened. He moved away from the still playing arcade game and gave me a grin.

"This place is too loud to have a conversation," he said walking past me. "Let's go to the bridge. It's always quiet there."

I sighed again. I then followed behind Takei as he led the way out of the air-conditioned arcade. I looked around for Naomi while we walked to Takei's spot underneath the bridge. Surprisingly, the bridge was within walking distance of the arcade. Takei sat down on the only large rock in the area and began kicking dirt into the river. I stood next to him for a while, wondering when he'll notice that I couldn't sit down on the ground.

It took him a minute to figure it out. "I'm sorry," he said bowing his head. Takei got off the rock and took his seat on the dirty ground. I sat down on his rock and looked down at the young man sitting next to me.

For a minute, we were silent until Takei spoke first.

"You must think I'm childish," he said scratching his cheek.

"Childish?"

"Yeah, I'm a grown man who plays video games all the time and still lives with his mother," he told me. "I'm not even employed at the moment. Most of my time outside my house is spent under this bridge alone. Don't even have any friends to hang out with. Textbook definition of a NEET, that's me."

"A little high on the self-deprecation today, Takei-san," I pointed out. "Last time we talked, you wouldn't shut up about how smart you were."

Takai laughed. "Hey, I am a genius with an IQ over a hundred and sixty," he said grinning. "The part of myself I'm most proud of is my intelligence. I can understand Physics and do complex equations in my head without the help of computers or other such tools. I've been blessed with the talent of understanding what most people can't even comprehend."

"You know, I've been wondering," I said noticing something about the young man. "Why do you talk like that? One second you talk as if you're the greatest guy around but the next, you say things that contradict what you said before."

"That's how I talk, Kimi-chan," he answered scratching his head. "For as long as I can remember, I showed off my intelligence whenever I could. Back when I was a kid, I didn't want anybody to think I was full of myself so I usually said a negative thing about myself after I was done showing off. Guess it became a habit after a while."

"Bullies must have picked on you everyday because of that habit," I said.

"Not as much as you think they would," he chuckled. "Sure I was picked on for a year or so but after that, they simply stopped bothering me. Nobody bothered me and I didn't bother them. I just went through my entire school life not bothering anybody."

Takai laid his chin on his palms. "Now that I think about it, I didn't have such an exciting high school life," he told me. "Most people had a goal to accomplish in high school like dating a cute girl, getting the highest scores on tests, or show off in sports but I had no interest in that. In fact, I did nothing but read at my desk until school was over and only played video games all day until I had to sleep. That was life for me back in high school."

Takei lifted his head and stared at the underside of the bridge above us.

"Sometimes, I wonder if my life would have been different if I just stood up and talked to someone…"

I took another look at Takei's face and saw that he was making an indifferent expression. A picture of him sitting at a desk in school, reading a book with that same expression, popped into my head. There were students around him but none of them were paying attention to Takei. He was nothing more than a ghost to those students. He was invisible to everyone, only turning visible when someone needed something from him. Life went on around him but Takei always remained in the same spot.

Thinking of how his life must have been back then, I felt a little sympathy for Takei.

"Listen to me!" he laughed, surprising me. "I absolutely hate being depressing, especially when it's depressing someone else. I want to hear something about you. I'm sure you aren't as depressing as me."

It was easy to see that he was hiding the pain he felt but I couldn't talk him into revealing any more of his past. Somehow, I felt like knowing how much loneliness Takei felt allowed our bond to become stronger. Maybe if I talk to him another day, he might reveal a little more of his true feelings. I was curious but I had a feeling there was nothing more I could get out of him.

"I'm sorry but I have to get back to what I was doing, Takei-san," I said standing up.

As expected, Takei was disappointed. Takei, however, got over it quickly and gave me a tiny smile.

"Alright, I understand," he said. "But I would like to know if its something I can help you with."

"Well, I'm looking for someone." I didn't want to involve him with my search for Naomi but any help would be welcomed. "Her name's Naomi Ikeda, so if you know her…"

Takei gave me a confused stare. "Naomi Ikeda?" he repeated.

"Yeah, that's her name," I told him.

"If I remember correctly," Takei said. "My neighbor's name should be Naomi Ikeda…"

My response was a very quick "What?"

…

Takei was telling the truth about Naomi being his neighbor. My friend showed me the way to his house and pointed at the smaller house next door. The nameplate on the gate said 'Ikeda' and a little peek at the mail sticking out of the mailbox proved that Naomi lived here. I didn't know how to express my gratitude to Takei but thankfully, he said all I had to do was to hang out with him another time. We said good-bye to each other and he went back to his home and I stayed outside the gate of Naomi's house.

The first thing I noticed about Naomi's home was that nothing outside was taken care off. The lawn grass was turning brown and quite a lot of weeds sprouting out of the ground. Shards of broken tiles that fell from the decaying roof littered a circle around the house. It was hard to believe anybody lived in a house that looked like it could collapse any minute. Regardless of how the house looked from the outside, there was definitely somebody living here.

I have to talk to Naomi before she decides to call the Nostalgia Line.

My hand pushed the rusted gate open, it releasing a high-pitched squeak as I forced it to move. I made my to the front door, being careful to step on only the stones that used to make up the path to the house. When I reached the front door, I hurried to knock three times against the wooden door. My knocking must have been heard because I heard footsteps coming from behind the door. The moment I heard the person behind the door clicking the lock open, my body tensed up. I held in my breath until the door swung open and I saw the person behind it.

Naomi Ikeda, wearing only a blue tank top and shorts stared at me with a sleepy look in her eyes.

"What time is it?" she asked me while rubbing her eyes. For reasons I already knew, Naomi's eyes sprung wide open and the young girl began to panic.

"I overslept again!" She screamed pulling on her shoulder-length brown hair. She ignored her guest and ran circles around her house, screaming every second she ran. "Why does this happen so much? Shikabe-sensei is going to be so mad at me for missing practice! How the hell am I going to apologize for oversleeping again! Maybe I'll feign sickness or… or maybe one of my relatives got into an accident and I had to rush over to the hospital! NO! That won't work! I'm the only child of two only-child parents who lives by herself! My closest relative isn't even in this country until Saturday! Maybe…"

Naomi continued to scream bad excuses while continuing to run circles around her house, picking up random clothing off the floor and trying the clothes on before tossing them aside when she took one sniff of the smell coming off the clothes.

"Excuse me…" I said, failing to get her attention. I leaned forward to see the young girl in the messy living room.

To my surprise again, Naomi stopped running around her house and was on her hands and knees.

"I must make amends," Naomi said with a serious tone in her voice staring at a picture frame. She raised a butter knife up to her gut. "I must commit Seppuku…"

I'm starting to think being the straight man is becoming an impulse of mine lately. I didn't mean to enter her house without permission but my body moved on its own, simply to stop the absurdity that was happening in front of my eyes.

"That's a little too dramatic," I said slapping her head from behind. "Aren't you supposed to be a violinist? I didn't know you did acting too."

"It's more of an interest than a hobby," Naomi said with a smile.

Naomi's smile changed into an expression of confusion when she took a closer look at me. She obviously didn't know who I was.

"My name's Kimi Amaya," I told her before she could ask. "I'm a 2nd year at the local high school but in a different class then you."

I grabbed Naomi's hand and helped her up.

"Mind telling me why you're here?" she asked.

Again, I knew simply telling the truth would only get her to react as if I'm insulting her or the more likely reaction of her staring at me as if I belonged in an asylum. The truth was too outrageous to be believed but my last two attempts to prevent the Nostalgia Line from being called ended in failure, which meant I had to succeed this time around.

If I was to succeed, then maybe lying is my only choice…

"I'm also a part of the school's Newspaper club and the Editor-in-chief is asking me to go around town to gather information from other students about the mysterious text message that's been ending up on people's phones lately," I told her.

It wasn't a lie since I was in the Newspaper club as an unofficial member but saying Miyako gave me orders was a complete lie. Still, lying like this left a bad taste in my mouth.

Naomi took out her cell phone and tapped the screen to check her text messages. After looking at her screen for a few seconds, she held up her phone for me to see.

"You mean this weird text I got yesterday?"

The Nostalgia Line text message was indeed on her phone. My mind was already thinking of possible ways to get rid of the text but each possible solution came with a problem. Destroying the phone only made it so Poseidon could forcefully bring the receiver into the Nostalgia Line world. If only destroying the phone caused being forcefully brought into that world, then I could only wonder what would happen if I took Naomi's phone and erased the text message. The most likely outcome had to be the same if I destroyed the phone.

My only choice at the moment was to try and prevent Naomi from calling the number.

"This text is obviously from some suspicious person," Naomi said taking her phone back. She took another look at her phone with a confused expression "That's weird, I was going to delete it right after I read it but the text is still here. Strange…"

She was obviously affected by one of the influences the text did to the receiver.

Naomi put her phone back into her pocket. "Well, I don't know anything about the text message that would help you, Amaya-san," she told me. "Sorry I couldn't be of any help."

"That's alright, nobody else I asked had any more information," I said.

I got ready to leave her house but stopped when I was offered tea. Good manners meant I had to stay and drink whatever she offered but at least my tendency to exercise common good manners was to my advantage. The more time I have to prevent Naomi from calling, the better.

We sat down on our knees next to Naomi's living room table. Naomi placed a cup of steaming green tea in front of me and I took a sip of it before I spoke.

"You know, it's really hard to find you," I said. "I went to the Music club but nobody knew where you were."

Naomi gave me a weak chuckle. "I oversleep quite a lot," she told me. "I guess it might have something to do with all the all-nighters I've been pulling."

"All-nighters? Are you having trouble with your grades?"

"Not really," Naomi said smiling again. "I get so absorbed in my violin practice that I usually forget to get to bed and end up sleeping all day."

She's a lot more passionate about playing the violin than I thought. "A good friend of mine told me that you have a lot of talent for a violinist," I said. "Someone with talent like that shouldn't have to practice all night."

Naomi waved her hand. "I'm not that good," she replied trying to sound modest. "I honestly can't see why people think I'm a violin prodigy. There are a lot of other violinists better than me."

I've never listened to her play the violin but I still found it hard to believe that Naomi was just another person who knew how to play the violin. Both Shikabe-sensei and Chikako told me that she was a great violinist. I knew neither of them would lie to me so Naomi must have some sort of reason to believe she wasn't a good violinist.

I took another sip of my tea before I spoke. "Do you honestly believe-"

I stopped speaking because I saw someone standing outside the window behind Naomi.

I saw the Hero staring at me from outside Naomi's house.

The sight of that Kamen Rider mask and long cape left me speechless. Ticking sounds echoed throughout the room, causing beads of sweat to trickle down to my chin. A quick look at Naomi showed that she couldn't hear or see what started to happen to the reality around us. A red tint enveloped the whole room while the Hero lifted his mask just enough to let me see the grin on his face. That grin of his allowed me to finally understand why the Hero told us about the next Nostalgia Line victim.

The Hero wanted me to find Naomi Ikeda.

Finding Naomi was all a trap to get me back into the Nostalgia Line.

The Hero snapped his fingers and I heard the sound of Naomi's phone shattering to pieces. I knew exactly what was coming when Naomi looked at the remains of her phone in her pocket, trying to understand how her phone ended up shattered.

"SO IDIOTIC, KIMI AMAYA!" Poseidon's voice boomed. "YOU FELL FOR HIS TRAP! AND EVEN BETTER, YOU'RE ALL ALONE!"

Black tendrils exploded out of the remains of Naomi's phone. Naomi screamed as the tendrils squeezed themselves around her arms and legs. I could only imagine the terror she must be feeling at the moment the tendrils pulled her into an unknown world. There was no struggling from me when the tendrils wrapped around my arms and legs. They were too strong, meaning struggling against them would be pointless.

I simply allowed the tendrils to pull me back into that black ocean.

…..

I'm so stupid.

I should have waited for one of my friends before I talked to Naomi. It didn't matter which one of my friends came, I just didn't want to deal with this alone. It was my fault that the Hero's trap succeeded better than he planned. Why didn't I think of the possibility that someone other than me could destroy the phone to forcefully send someone to the Nostalgia Line? Not thinking of that outcome is the reason I'm in this situation.

I don't want to raise my head. A part of me wanted to stay laying here on this cold concrete floor. Another part of me was curious why the Nostalgia Line took the form of an abnormally huge concert stage and kept telling me to get up and explore. Neither of those feelings motivated me to stand up.

What did motivate me to stand up was the desire to find Naomi and get out of this world as soon as possible.

I got back to my feet and took a look around. This world created from Naomi's memories didn't have a ceiling like Chikako and Hiroki's and was more like the world created from my memories. Rows of leather seats surrounded a half-circle around the raised concert stage. From where I stood, I could see that the Nostalgia Line world didn't end at the farthest row of seats and continued to include an equally large parking lot with over half of the lots being used by the same generic gray car. Stage lights were turned on by themselves and I watched as an unknown force focused their lights onto the stage.

Almost instantly, booing exploded from every seat when the stage lights revealed Naomi wearing a silk white dress with a violin in her hands on the stage. Dark shadows of humans filled each seat around the stage and every one of the shadows were booing at the young girl. The booing from the shadows was having a terrible effect on Naomi. She cowered to try and hide from the insults being thrown at her.

"Why are you booing? I can't be perfect if your booing!" Naomi cried.

"You have no talent!"

"What's an amateur like you doing playing the violin?"

"GET OFF THE STAGE!"

The shadows began throwing rotting fruits and vegetables at Naomi. Most of them missed but a brown and dull red tomato struck her shoulder, staining her dress with its red liquid. Naomi dropped her violin and desperately tried to get rid of the stain on her dress. More rotting produce struck her, staining her dress with all kinds of liquids and rotting vegetable bits. Naomi's tears mixed with the rotting pieces of fruit and vegetables on her face while she still tried to fix her dress.

What the hell is up with this memory? Nobody in real life actually reacted like this, at least not to someone like Naomi.

I ran past the rows, ignoring the booing crowd, and jumped onto the stage. I dodged the flying produce and got down on my knees next to Naomi. She was still trying to clean the rotting fruits and vegetables off her dress with only her hands.

I grabbed her hand. "Come on, Ikeda-san, we have to get away from here," I said pulling her hand.

Naomi, however, slapped my hand away. "I can't leave," she hurried to tell me. "Today is a very important day…"

Naomi lifted her head and stared into the crowd in front of us. I turned my head and saw who she was staring at.

Sitting right in the middle of the massive crowd of shadows, was a solid man wearing a very expensive-looking black suit and a beautiful lady with long brown hair wearing a dress similar to Naomi's. The balding middle-aged man stared back at Naomi with so much disappointment while the lady was simply shaking her head from side to side. I finally understood why the shadows were reacting so badly towards Naomi with such hatred.

Those two, the two adult figures most important to a child, were the Demons created from Naomi's worst memory and the shadows were merely how Naomi felt like what was happening to her at the moment.

"Mommy and Daddy both came to watch me play," Naomi said with a trance-like look in her eyes. She grabbed her violin and got back to her feet. Naomi placed the violin under her chin and raised the bow over its strings.

"I have to be perfect! If I'm perfect, Mommy and Daddy will stay together! We'll still be a family!"


	22. Chapter 22: Symphony for the Heartbroken

Naomi tried to play her violin but the crowd of shadows continued to throw rotting produce at her. Every time she made a note, one of the insults or the rotting produce ruined her attention and caused her to create a screeching noise from her violin. She couldn't play under these conditions but Naomi was in a trance. Nothing would stop her from playing for the Demons taking the form of her parents. This concert had to be perfect but I already knew that these Demons wouldn't let her play. They were content with watching Naomi be humiliated.

Just watching these shadows made me grit my teeth and clench my fists.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I screamed.

I raised my hand and yelled "Persona!"

An explosion of blue aura surrounded me the moment after my yell. The Magician Arcana card appeared in front of me and begun spinning. Blue aura swirled around the spinning card while a ragged blue cloak formed within. In a single second, my Persona jumped out of the Arcana and placed himself in front of the crying Naomi. The Persona, being only a living cloak hanging off a head of darkness with tiny lights for eyes, managed to block the thrown produce from hitting Naomi. Without being ordered to, a wooden staff fell out of the cloak and floated next to my Persona as if it were held by a invisible hand.

"Merlin! Use Maragi!" I ordered.

My Persona Merlin raised his staff. Several large balls of fire popped out of the staffs tip and circled around Merlin until he swung his staff forward. Each ball of flames shot out into random parts of the audience and each one exploded the moment they struck the shadows. The booing instantly ceased while the audience started to explode into tiny clouds of red and black. Merlin continued to fireballs into the audience, killing more and more of the shadows.

In less than a minute, my Persona had killed every shadow in the audience, leaving only charred seats behind. Only the two Demons survived the spell. The Father and Mother, however, continued looking disappointed.

"An empty house," the Father whispered to the Mother. Actually, it just looked like whispering to me but their voices echoed loud enough for us to hear them.

"You can tell a lot about the quality of a concert by how much people bother to show up," the Mother whispered back. "Maybe we should leave with the rest of them…"

"No! Don't leave!"

The crying Naomi tried to pick up her violin but I kicked the instrument aside. That single action made Naomi look up at me with an expression of both anger and confusion.

"You're not playing anymore," I told her.

"But I have to be-"

"You don't have to do anything!" I yelled back. "Can't you see that these bastards are enjoying seeing you cry and try to play? The two people you think are your parents are the ones enjoying it the most! They're Demons created by your worst-"

"What do you think you're doing talking to my daughter like that?"

I spun around to see that the Mother Demon had somehow appeared behind me. Just like the other Demons I faced, this lady had the same disgusting aura about her.

My first reaction upon seeing the Demon behind me was to jump back as far away as I could. With some distance between us, Merlin flew back to my side and aimed his staff at the Mother Demon.

"Agilao!" I yelled.

Merlin conjured a large fireball and fired at the Demon. The fireball shot at the Mother but to my surprise, the Demon screamed.

"Protect me, Honey!" she screamed.

The Father Demon jumped in front of the fireball. He swung up his arms to protect himself and the other Demon. The fireball struck him and exploded but after the cloud of smoke cleared, neither him nor the Mother were injured.

"Are you alright, my darling Eve?" the Father Demon said turning around.

The Father Demon tried to take the Mother Demon's hand but she slapped him before he could.

"Don't you ever try to touch me again, Adam!" the Demon Eve yelled.

The Father Demon Adam stepped away from Eve. He cowered behind Eve while the woman stepped forward. Adam hiding behind Eve led me to realize something about the Demons.

Eve was the real Demon created from Naomi's memories. Adam was simply a tool for her to use.

"Naomi," Eve said with a motherly voice. "What are you doing sitting there? Why are you not playing your violin? Mommy and Daddy want to hear you play perfectly…"

Naomi nodded and hurried to pick up her violin but just like before, I kicked it out of the way. To make sure she couldn't play the violin, I changed my Persona to Ran and encased the instrument in a thick shell of ice.

"I told you that I'm not letting you play anymore," I said staring at Naomi's tear-filled eyes.

Tears flowed down Naomi's cheeks. "But if I don't play, Mommy will leave me," she cried.

"_Please don't leave, Mommy! I'll be better!"_ A little girl's voice echoed.

"_I'm sorry, Naomi, but I can't stay with your dad any longer," _the voice of Naomi's mother echoed. "_I'm so sorry…"_

"I don't want you to leave me, Mommy!" Naomi cried crawling to the Demon Eve's feet.

Eve kneeled down to place her hand on Naomi's cheek. "I won't leave you and your Daddy again," she said trying not to grin. "But only if you are the perfect child, Naomi. And to me, the perfect child has no need for memories…"

"Not going to happen!" I yelled.

Ran picked up Naomi and threw her onto her shoulder. Ignoring Naomi's struggling, I jumped off the stage and ran as fast as I could towards the parking lot with Ran following. Strangely, Eve didn't chase after us. We managed to get out of the Demon's sight but we were still inside the Nostalgia Line world. All I could do at the moment was to think of a way to defeat the Demon Eve and her servant Adam.

"Let me go!" Naomi screamed while flailing her arms and legs around. "I have to play for Mommy and Daddy!"

" I don't have time for this, " I whispered to myself.

" Where are you hiding, baby? " Eve's voice echoed. " Father and I are done fighting. You can come out now… "

The sound of footsteps nearby made me hold in my breath. We hid amongst the rows of cars, constantly moving so I could see the two demons. Naomi tried to give out our location but my Persona kept her hand firmly on the girl's mouth.

The Demon Adam was the first to speak while the two of them continued to search for us.

" Maybe we should watch out for a surprise attack? " He told Eve sounding concerned.

Adam's concern for Eve got him rewarded with a powerful slap across his face from the female Demon. The slap threw Adam off his feet. While Adam laid on the ground, Eve walked over to him and began stomping his face further into the earth.

" Don't you ever tell me what to do, you piece of rotting bark! " Eve screamed continuing to stomp on Adam's face. " I am your superior! I am your better in every sense! You listen to me! Not the other way around! Now, get your lazy ass out of the ground and find our daughter! "

Eve grabbed Adam's head and pulled him back up to his feet. Eve kicked the male Demon in the back when he walked in front of her. Adam, looking ready to tear up, followed Eve's orders and resumed their search for Naomi.

" Mommy won't stop yelling at Daddy, " Naomi cried behind me.

Watching those two Demons confirmed that Eve is the real Demon I have to defeat. Despite knowing this, I can't help but think about how Naomi felt when her parents were splitting up. She must have been a child when this memory happened, which would explain her need to be perfect for her parents. Whenever something like this happens, it's always the child who receives the worst of it. The pain of her parents getting divorced made her believe that if she was perfect, they would stay together. This entire world was created from the pain of her mother leaving her father and herself, leaving Naomi to feel even more pain knowing she failed to be perfect.

A tear welled up in my eye when I looked at Naomi, who was still in a trance where she believed she had to be perfect in order for her parents to stay together.

" I'm so sorry, Ikeda-san, " I told Naomi. " It's my fault you're reliving this memory. They're so many ways I could have prevented this from happening… "

I wiped my eyes before I grabbed Naomi's hands. " But don't worry! I'll get you out of your trance and defeat your Demon! We'll escape this world together! "

Naomi stared at me with a confused look but I meant what I said. I will find a way to break her trance and defeat whatever is in the way of our escape. I don't care how strong these demons are, I will not forgive them for reopening old wounds.

I got tired of hiding and jumped on top of the car we hid behind. Ran released Naomi and flew to my side, ready to follow any order I give her. Blue aura surrounded my body while I willed myself to change Personas. A moment later, Ran disappeared into the spinning Arcana card that appeared behind her. The card continued to spin, changing its image from the Fool Arcana to the Emperor.

" Musashi! Torrent Shot! " I yelled focusing all my strength into my next attack.

Musashi jumped out of the spinning Emperor Arcana and pulled out both of his swords. The two Demons turned their heads to me the moment they heard my voice but Musashi was already in front of them. My Persona shot three thrusts of his sword at Eve but Adam got in the way and was stabbed instead. Green blood dripped out of the three holes in Adam's body but the wounds closed up seconds after they were made.

" Magnara! " Adam yelled thrusting his hand forward.

A large spike made out of the dirt erupted out of the ground in front of Musashi. Before the tip of the spike could pierce my Persona, Musashi sliced it into pieces. The spike, however, wasn't meant to hit Musashi. It served as a distraction as Adam threw his arms around Musashi, holding him down to one place.

" This is your chance, my dear Eve! " Adam yelled.

Eve began grinding her teeth as she lifted her hand. " Don't give me orders, you piece of trash! " She screamed stabbing her husband in back with the tip of her fingers.

Eve's sharp fingers pierced through Adam and managed to stab my Persona in the gut. A intense sharp pain shot through my gut but I forced myself to ignore it. Musashi listened to my thoughts and used up all his strength to break out of Adam's hold. My Persona flew away from the Demons, holding the sparkling wound where Eve stabbed him.

" You failed to hold that bitch's Persona! " Eve screamed kicking Adam after he fell to the ground. The gaping hole in his stomach, made by his own wife, had green blood gushing out of it. The wound's bleeding took a lot longer than the stab wounds to heal. Eve's belittling screams and abuse certainly didn't help speed up the process.

" I'm sorry, dear, " Adam said softly as he tried to stand up.

" Shut up and go back to being my shield, " Eve said hurrying to hide behind her husband.

" Yes, dear, " he whispered.

Is this how Naomi viewed her own mother's treatment to her father? Constantly abusing him while expecting him to protect her anyway? No matter what Naomi's parent's relationship was, I simply couldn't stand seeing Eve treat Adam like that.

Ignoring the sharp pain in my gut, I willed my Persona to change. Musashi disappeared and the spinning Emperor Arcana changed into the Chariot Arcana. A second later, the Black Knight galloped out of the spinning card. Instead of making the Black Knight attack, however, I ordered my Persona to circle around the two Demons.

" So this is how you react? Making sure we stay right here? " Eve chucked while she watched the Black Knight circle them on top of his stead. " We don't even need to move from this spot. Our daughter will come to us… "

Damn it! Eve's words reminded me that Naomi was no longer being held down.

I looked behind me and noticed that she was no longer where I left her. I should have known Naomi wouldn't stay in one spot, especially since she's under the spell of this world.

Looking around allowed me to find Naomi was already making her way towards Eve. She walked slowly to Adam and Eve with an almost hopeful expression on her face. She still believed these two were her parents.

" Please stay with me and Daddy, Mommy, " Naomi said with tears welling up in her eyes. " I'll try my best to be perfect. I'll be the best violinist and I'll do whatever you tell me to do. I'll do anything so please, don't leave me, Mommy. "

For a second, Eve made a wicked grin before switching back to a normal smile. The Demon walked up to Naomi, ignoring my Black Knight's warnings, and grabbed the young girl's hand. Eve stared into Naomi's eyes and said…

" I can't be in a family where my daughter isn't perfect, " Eve said still smiling innocently.

Those words shattered Naomi and made my Black Knight attack Eve because of my anger. Adam, for a second time, got in the way of my attack and ended up having the Black Knight's lance pierce into his shoulder, tearing off his whole arm. The severed arm turned into a lump of wood the moment it landed on the ground.

" I won't let you hurt my beloved, " Adam hissed at me holding his bleeding shoulder.

Eve continued to chuckle until her chuckle turned into laughing. She slapped the shocked Naomi with one hand and stabbed Adam in the spine with the other, all while cackling. Naomi started crying again while Adam took the abuse Eve gave him.

" Here's another chance for you to try to be perfect, " Eve laughed tossing Naomi another violin. "Now start playing."

The violin struck Naomi's head but she ignored the injury and hurried to pick up the violin. She would have started playing it again if my Black Knight hadn't stabbed the instrument through the middle.

" Ikeda-san, you are not playing for her anymore, " I told them. " Nobody who is this glad to cause suffering deserves to hear you play. "

Naomi still held onto her broken instrument. " But I have to be perfect… "

" How is being better at playing the violin making you a perfect child? " I asked.

My question had a visible effect on her. " I… I don't… "

Naomi couldn't answer my question.

" I'm sorry but you have to know that even if you were perfect, your mother still would have left your father, " I told her jumping down to the ground.

While I walked towards her, I continued talking.

" I don't know what your mother or your father was like and I also don't know what it's like to be in the middle of a divorce, " I said. " But I can still figure out that whatever is happening here is simply what you thought you saw, Ikeda-san. You believed you had to be perfect for your parents to be together. You're the one who thought your own mother was a sadistic freak and your father was the protector. Whatever you're seeing in this world is the result of your mind remembering your parent's divorce through the filter of a child's memory. I'm sure your mother wasn't anything like this Demon…"

" But Mommy left Daddy! " Naomi interrupted me. " Daddy still loves Mommy and she left us! I don't care what happened, Mommy's the one who didn't care about our feelings! She stomped on our feelings! She didn't care that we still loved her! She left us! "

Naomi no longer spoke like a kid. My words were having an effect on her. Naomi's words too, were having an effect on Eve. The Demon looked like she was having her strength drained from her with every word Naomi spoke.

" You only saw your mother fight with your father, " I told Naomi. " Any child would twist their memories to make it look like the mother was the evil one. I bet that your mother simply fell out of love with your father. He knew it and let your mother leave."

" SHUT UP! " Naomi screamed throwing her hands over her ears. " Daddy would have fought to keep Mommy. Mommy knew about his feelings and stabbed him in the heart! "

" Adults are like that, Ikeda-san, " I responded. " It's sad but it's a lot easier for adult to give up. "

" Not Daddy, " she cried. " He tried to be with her but she left him. She's the evil one. She's the one who doesn't care about my feelings. "

Naomi was fighting to keep the illusion but I could already tell that the world's spell on her was breaking. Eve's condition was proof of that. The Demon looked ready to collapse at any second while Adam remained where he stood, not moving once while we talked.

" You don't want to deal with the issue so you try to find other ways to deal with the pain, " I continued. " Believing if you're perfect, then it would bring your parents back together or making your mother out to be the evil one are both ways to deal with the pain of having divorced parents. I'm sorry but you have to accept that your parent's marriage wasn't perfect and that you had nothing to do with the decision. "

Naomi ran up to me and grabbed my collar with both hands. She looked ready to punch me but stopped before she could make a fist. Tears welled up in Naomi's eyes while she did her best not to cry. The young girl fell to her knees.

"You're right, " she cried. " I... I need to accept that I couldn't stop my parents from splitting up."

" No! She's wrong! I'm evil! " Eve screamed. " I stomped on your feelings for me and I loved every second of it! "

Naomi took a look at Eve and wiped her eyes. " Wow, now that I look at you, I can see that you have almost nothing in common with my Mom, " she chuckled while a blue aura surrounded her body. " You're not even close to being smart as Mommy. "

Eve screamed and pounced at Naomi but my Black Knight bashed her aside. Having had no damage done to it until now, Eve screamed even louder as she writhed in pain. Adam hurried to her side but the Demon slashed his face open when he came near.

" Where were you? You were supposed to protect me! "

Adam didn't respond to her screaming. Instead he watched the blue aura around Naomi grow stronger. He didn't bother to wait for Naomi's Persona to form. He grabbed his wife and then…

"We have to do this..."

He bit into Eve's neck.

Adam biting into Eve's neck surprised both of us but the scene that happened next surprised us even more. Adam continued to eat Eve, his mouth growing larger with each bite until he finished eating her. For a second, Adam stood still…

Then the Demon exploded in a cloud of red and black smoke.

Naomi and I held up our arms to block the smoke from hitting our faces but the smoke disappeared before it could touch us. When we lowered our arms, we saw the form the Demon had taken.

Adam and Eve had transformed into a towering behemoth of wood that crushed several cars under their four feet. Adam's body came out of the monster's right shoulder while Eve came out of the left. Both opened their eyes and the behemoth lifted its two massive tree trunks for arms over its head made out of branches and leaves. The behemoth roared as it threw its two arms down at us.

" Black Knight! " I yelled.

Black knight jumped to block their attack but stopped once I noticed the floating musicals notes in the air between my Persona and the behemoth's incoming attack. I made Black Knight make some distance between us and the floating musical notes. I was right to be cautious not to touch them because when the behemoth's arm came into contact with the notes, every one of them exploded and sent its arms back.

The behemoth roared in pain while its arms burned from the fire created from the explosion.

" I am thou and thou art I, " A woman's almost ethereal voice said.

I turned to Naomi and saw her Persona standing behind her. The Persona was definitely a woman but it was hard to tell with the amazing amount of tattered black cloth wrapped around her body. Only her arms and head weren't covered in the cloth. A mask made out of the Persona's silky black hair hid her face but didn't hide her smiling mouth. The most interesting part of the Persona, however, had to be her arms. Her left arm was made entirely out of violin strings while the other was made out of wood with violin sticks for fingers.

" I am Euterpe, Muse of Music, " she said placing one of her fingers on her arm made out of strings. " Our music shall bring all who hear it become excited or fall into tears! "

" Can I have a explanation for what's going on? " Naomi asked me.

" It's a long story, " I answered. " I'll tell you after we defeat this Dem- "

I stopped speaking because a sharp pain came out of my head and I heard a familiar voice yell inside my mind.

" Don't defeat the Demon, Amaya-san! It's one of Poseidon's traps! " Fuuka yelled in my head.

What?


End file.
